A plane with nineteen passengers, heading for the Everest region has crashed in Nepal's capital Kathmandu, killing all on board.

Local officials have corrected their initial statement on the number of foreign fatalities and now say they included seven Brits and five Chinese. Seven Nepali nationals were also on the plane, including the three Nepalese crew.

According to earlier information, the plane, operated by Sita Air, came down minutes after take-off from Kathmandu. Officials said it crashed into a river bank and caught fire. Sixteen passengers and three crew were on board the plane.

BBC sites the UK Foreign Office saying Brits were among the dead but has not confirmed how many. It further reports that the UK Ambassador in Kathmandu had gone to Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, where the bodies of those who died had been taken.

The cause of the crash is not yet known, however the general manager of Tribhuvan International Airport, Ratish Chandra Lal Suman, said in a statement, cited by BBC that the plane had struck a bird.

He reported that air traffic control contacted the pilot after noticing an unusual maneuver minutes after take-off. The pilot said his plane had hit a vulture.

The plane had been heading for Lukla, the hub for trekking in the Everest region.

Aviation accidents involving small aircraft are not uncommon in mountainous Nepal.

In May, 15 people were killed when a plane crashed trying to land at an airport in the north of the country.

And in September 2011, 19 people were killed when a Buddha Air plane crashed during a flight to view Mount Everest.