Dylan Bettencourt
A private passenger aeroplane carrying 22 passengers went missing in the early hours of Sunday morning.
The Twin Otter plane took off at around 10am but lost contact with air traffic control five minutes before it was due to land.
“A domestic flight bound for Jomsom from Pokhara has lost contact,” Sudarshan Bartaula, spokesperson for Tara Air, told AFP.
The spokesperson confirmed that there were 19 passengers and three crew members on board the plane for the 20-minute flight.
Phanindra Mani Pokharel, a spokesperson at the Ministry of Home Affairs, confirmed that they have deployed two helicopters in a search and rescue operation.
However, poor weather conditions have made visibility low for the helicopter pilots, Pokharel explained.
“The bad weather is likely to hamper the search operation. The visibility is so poor that nothing can be seen,” Pokharel added.
One helicopter has gone back to base, Nepal’s civil aviation authority revealed.
“One search helicopter returned to Jomsom due to bad weather without locating the plane,” it said in a statement.
“Helicopters are ready to take off for the search from Kathmandu, Pokhara and Jomsom once weather conditions improve. Army and police search teams have left towards the site.”
Nepal, home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains, has a history of poor weather conditions that has led to aircraft difficulties.
In 2018 a US-Bangla Airlines flight from Dhaka to Kathmandu crashed on landing and caught fire, killing 51 of the 71 people on board.
Image source: @Reuters
