Rescuers have turned to the possible location of a passenger plane with 22 people on board, which it fears crashed on Sunday in cloudy weather in the mountains of Nepal, officials said.
The Tara Air plane was on a 20-minute scheduled flight from the resort town of Pokhara, 200 kilometers (125 miles) east of Kathmandu, to the mountain town of Jomsom. The turboprop Twin Otter lost contact with the airport tower near landing in an area of deep river gorges and mountain peaks.
An army helicopter and private helicopters were involved in the search, a statement from Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority said.
Army troops and rescue teams have targeted the possible site of the crash, which is believed to be around Lete, a village in the Mustang district, army spokesman Narayan Silval said on Twitter.
But bad weather and the onset of night forced the search to be suspended until Monday morning, Silval said.
“Poor visibility due to bad weather hinders efforts. The plane has not yet been found, “he said. Rescuers were trying to reach an area where locals are said to have seen the fire, although it is not yet clear what is burning, Silval added. He said staff could check the information only after the troops reach the place.
Sudarshan Bartaula, a Tara Air spokesman, said rescuers had limited the plane’s possible location.
According to flight tracking data from flyradar24.com, the 43-year-old plane took off from Pokhara at 9:55 am (04:10 GMT) and transmitted its last signal at 10:07 am (04:22 GMT) at altitude of 12,825 feet (3,900 meters).
There were six foreigners on board, including four Indians and two Germans, according to a police officer who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The plane was carrying 19 passengers and three crew members, Bartaula said.
It has been raining in the area in recent days, but flights have been running normally. Planes on this route fly between the mountains before landing in a valley.
This is a popular route with foreign tourists walking on mountain trails, as well as with Indian and Nepalese pilgrims visiting the revered Muktinath temple.
Nepal has a weak record for air safety.
In 2016, a Tara Air Twin Otter flying the same route crashed after takeoff, killing all 23 people on board. In 2012, an Agni Air plane, also flying from Pokhara to Jomsom, crashed, killing 15 people. Six people survived. In 2014, a Nepal Airlines plane flying from Pokhara to Joomla crashed, killing all 18 on board.
In 2018, a US-Bangla passenger plane from Bangladesh crashed while landing in Kathmandu, killing 49 of the 71 people on board.
The Twin Otter, a rugged aircraft originally built by Canadian aircraft maker De Havilland, has been in operation in Nepal for about 50 years, during which it has been involved in about 21 accidents, according to aviationnepal.com.
The aircraft with a top-mounted wing and a fixed landing gear is valuable for its endurance and ability to take off and land on short runways.
Initially, the production of aircraft ended in the 80s of last century. Another Canadian company, Viking Air, returned the model to production in 2010.
With postal wires
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