A passenger plane operated by Tara Air in Nepal went missing on Sunday morning, the Tara air said in a statement.
The Tara Air flight from Pokhara to Jomsom carrying 22 people has been out of contact since Sunday morning, an airline spokesperson said in a statement. The last time Tara Air’s 9N AET plane reached the skies of Mustang, it came in contact with the tower of Jomsom Airport at 10:07.
Jomsom is a popular trekking destination in the Himalayas about 20 minutes by plane from Pokhara.
The plane was flown by Captain Prabhakar Ghimire. There were two other crew members and 19 passengers on board.
According to Tara Air, there were two German nationals, four Indians and 13 Nepali passengers, total 22 onboard including three crew members.
“A helicopter was sent from Jomsom to search for the plane, which was last seen at 10:07 a.m. in Ghodepani at 10:07 a.m. and later lost contact but returned to Jomsom due to inclement weather,” according to a statement issued by Tara Air. “Helicopters are on standby at Kathmandu, Pokhara, and Jomsom airports for the rescue operation and the search will be resumed by air as the weather improves. We would like to inform that the rescue team of Nepal Army, Nepal Police, and Tara Air has already departed from the land route.”
“A Nepali Army Mi-17 helicopter has been deployed at Lete, Mustang, which is the suspected crashed region of the missing Tara Air aircraft. In addition, ground troops have also been deployed for the search operations,” a spokesperson of the Nepali Army Narayan Silwal told the news media.
The Nepal Army has postponed the search operation for the Tara Air flight from Pokhara to Jomsom. The team will resume search operations from tomorrow morning, said Narayan Silwal, spokesperson of the Nepal Army.
“We have stopped searching today. We will start the rescue operation as soon as possible tomorrow morning, “he tweeted.” We stopped because it was dark today. The team is looking for a suitable place as far as it has gone,” it added.
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