A Tara Air plane that was operated by a private airline in Nepal, went missing yesterday with 22 people on board.
The plane, which was 43-years-old at the time of its flight, took off from Pokhara and was heading to Jomsom.
The aircraft, a De Havilland Canada DHC-6-300 Twin Otter aircraft (registration number 9N-AET), first flew in April 1979.
Officials are saying that the cloudy weather is preventing search helicopters from flying into the area where the plane was last seen.
There were 4 Indians, 2 Germans, 16 Nepalis and three flight crew on board the plane at the time of the incident.
The plane had lost contact with the control tower about 5 minutes before it was about to land at Jomsom, which is a tourist and pilgrimage site.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal released a statement saying that they have helicopters ready to take off for search from Kathmandu, Pokhara and Jomsom once the weather improves.
Army and police search teams have already been deployed towards the site where the plane was last detected.
Here is their statement
We regret to inform you that today on May 29, 2022 Tara Air’s aircraft 9N-AET, DHC-6 TWIN OTTER, en route to Jomsom from Pokhara that took off at 9:55 am has lost contact.
The aircraft had total of 22 persons along with 3 crew members, and 19 passengers on board. Out of the 19 passengers, 13 were Nepali, 4 Indians, and 2 Germans.
The aircraft made its last contact with Jomson Airport at 10:07 am. A helicopter had been sent for the search of the aircraft however due to the bad weather the helicopter had to return back to Jomson.
Helicopters from Kathmandu, Pokahara and Jomsom airports are on standby and will return back for the search as soon as the weather clears out.
Nepal Police, Nepal Army, and rescue team of Tara Air are on the way for land search.