Urgent efforts are underway to determine whether an Australian believed to be onboard a plane that crashed in Nepal has survived. 

The aircraft was carrying 72 people, including 15 foreign citizens, when it went down, killing at least 68 people.

It is the country’s worst aviation disaster in three decades.

The twin-engine ATR72 was flying low, before it was seen spinning sharply on the approach to Pokhara International Airport shortly before 11am local time.

Black smoke billowed from the aircraft as it was engulfed in flames after plummeting into a gorge beside the city’s river, just 1.5 kilometres short of the airport runway.

The cause of the crash is yet to be established.

Image: @KazmiWajahat / Twitter