The Nepal army has said the wreckage of a missing US military helicopter has been found, according to the AFP news agency.

Major General Binoj Basnet said the helicopter, which went missing while delivering aid to people affected by the earthquakes in the country, was located 40 miles north-east of Kathmandu near the Chinese border.

He said: "We don't know if there are any survivors, we have yet to confirm that."

"We have sighted the wreckage from the air, we are now trying to land in the area and get more information."

Six US Marines and two Nepalese soldiers were on board the helicopter when it went missing on Tuesday in Charikot, Dolakha district.

The helicopter - part of Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 469 - had just dropped off supplies and was heading to another destination.

Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steven Warren said on Tuesday that radio chatter about a fuel problem was picked up from the crew before the aircraft went missing.

The missing helicopter is one of more than a dozen US military aircraft carrying out aid operations in the country.

Army helicopters and hundreds of US and Nepalese troops had been involved in a search of the mountainous terrain to find the aircraft.

A second earthquake with a magnitude of 7.3 struck Nepal on Tuesday, killing 117 people and injuring 2,800.

That came just over two weeks after a magnitude-7.8 quake killed more than 8,200 people in the country and left thousands without shelter.