A Bangladeshi aircraft carrying 67 passengers and four crew members has crashed as it was landing at Kathmandu airport in Nepal.

The US-Bangla Airlines plane slipped off the runway as it was landing and fell down a slope, sliding for about 300 metres before it stopped at a football pitch, leaving a trail of twisted metal, paper and luggage along the burnt grass.

Nepali police said at least 38 were killed and 23 injured, with another 10 people still unaccounted for.

Firefighters battled to extinguish the burning wreckage and rescue passengers as plumes of black smoke rose above the site, to the east of the airport’s runway. At least 24 badly burned bodies, some covered with cloth and others in partially sealed body bags, could be seen laid our beside the charred frame of the plane.

Amanda Summers, an American who works in Nepal, watched the crash happen from the terrace of her home office, not far from the airport.

“It was flying so low I thought it was going to run into the mountains,” she told AP. She said it was unclear if it had reached the runway when it landed. “All of a sudden there was a blast and then another blast,” she said.