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Plane That VANISHED Carrying 22 Passengers FOUND in Nepal
Passenger Plane Carrying 22 People VANISHES After Take-Off as Search Teams Sent to Fire
A search has now been launched after the Tara Air flight lost contact as it flew over Nepalese mountains
Daily Mirror 29 MAY 2022
The 9N-AET plane lost contact at 10:07 in the Ghodepani area
A passenger plane carrying 22 people vanished minutes after taking off and has gone missing in mountains, with search teams being sent to the site of a fire.
The small aircraft operated by a private airline was carrying 19 passengers and three crew members and disappeared in cloudy weather on Sunday morning, as it flew over a remote mountain range in Nepal.
Reports are vague but state-owned Nepal Television said villagers had seen an aircraft on fire, while local media reports the plane has been found. The condition of those on board remains unknown at this stage.
Nepalese airline Tara Air said the 9N-AET lost contact at 10.07am local time and a helicopter has been dispatched to the area where the last contact was made, reports the Kathmandu Post.
The 43-year-old plane had 13 Nepalis, four Indians, two Germans and three Nepalese crew members on board. Seven of the passengers were women, said the airline.
The flight departed from the tourist town of Pokhara - some 125 km (80 miles) northwest of the capital Kathmandu - and was on a 15-minute trip to the mountain town of Jomsom, about 80 km to the northwest, reports the Sun.
There are reports that the plane crashed at the mouth of the Lamche river near Kowang, according to the Sun.
Army spokesperson Narayan Silwar said officials had not been able to confirm yet the condition of the aircraft or if there are any survivors.
He added that the army was on route to the site from the ground and an air.
State-owned Nepal Television said villagers had seen an aircraft on fire at the source of the Lyanku Khola River at the foot of the Himalayan mountain Manapathi, in a district bordering Tibet.
"Ground search teams are proceeding toward that direction," Tara Air spokesperson Sudarshan Gartaula told Reuters, referring to the fire site.
"It could be a fire by villagers or by cowherds. It could be anything."
The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) also said a team was headed to that area.
"The location of the aircraft remains unknown so far because of bad weather and complex terrain," it said in a statement.
"The ground and air search for the aircraft will be intensified and the rescue coordination centre will remain open for 24 hours."
However, the searched had to be halted off this evening due to loss of daylight and adverse weather.
A Nepal Army spokesman said: "NA has halted all efforts of search and rescue for today due to loss of daylight and adverse weather.
"The search will be resumed early in the morning tomorrow both from air and ground. Our search and rescue team with HC is on standby at Jomsom."
The aircraft lost contact shortly after take off and, with no information on its whereabouts, a search operation was launched.
The 9N-AET's last contact was at Lete Pass, where a helicopter has been sent.
Family members and relatives of passengers on board the Twin Otter aircraft operated by Tara Air, weep outside the airport in Pokhara on May 29, 2022
The plane took off in the morning for a 20-minute flight but lost contact with the control tower five minutes before it was due to land at Jomsom, a popular tourist and pilgrimage site, government officials said.
Several media - including Indian news channel Times Now and the Hindustan Times - are now reporting that the plane has been found near Kowang in Mustang.
However, the status of the flight is yet to be ascertained and the Nepal Army are being sent to the location.
There had been an unconfirmed report of a loud noise in the Ghasa area of Jomsom, according to a Jomsom Airport air traffic controller.
There has been heavy rain in the area in the past few days, but the flights - which involve flying between mountains and landing in a valley - have been able to continue operating as usual and no other issues have been reported.
The country's weather office said there had been thick cloud cover in the Pokhara-Jomson area since the morning.
Chiranjibi Rana, the chief district officer of Myagdi, told the Kathmandu Post that the poor weather is slowing down the search in the area where the aircraft was last seen.
He said that locals reported the plane made two circles at Khaibang before heading towards Kiti Danda near Lete Pass.
A handout image shows a Tara Air DHC-6 Twin Otter, tail number 9N-AET
The area in Nepal is popular among hikers and is also a pilgrimage spot among Indians and Nepalese because of the Muktinath temple.
Nepal, home to eight of the world's 14 highest mountains, including Everest, has a record of air accidents.
A search is underway (Pictured is a stock image of a plane on the runway in front of the Annapurnas, Jomsom, Nepal)
Its weather can change suddenly and airstrips are typically sited in difficult-to-reach mountainous areas.
In early 2018, a US-Bangla Airlines flight from Dhaka to Kathmandu crashed on landing and caught fire, killing 51 of the 71 people on board.
In 1992, all 167 people aboard a Pakistan International Airlines plane were killed when it ploughed into a hill as it tried to land in Kathmandu.
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