Plane carrying 22 people goes missing in Nepal

A plane of Tara Air in Nepal – Photo: REUTERS

The plane crashed while flying from the tourist town of Pokhara, 200km northwest of Kathmandu, to Jomsom, 80km away, Reuters news agency quoted information from the Nepal government as saying. Jomsom is a popular place for hiking in the Himalayas.

The Tara Air Twin Otter plane lost contact with air traffic control after taking off from Pokhara at 9:55 a.m. local time on May 29.

“A domestic flight from Pokhara to Jomsom has lost contact,” Tara Air spokesman Sudarshan Bartaula confirmed to AFP news agency.

According to AFP, there were 19 passengers and crew on the plane. So far, confirmed passengers include 4 Indians, 2 other foreigners, while the nationality of the remaining passengers is unknown.

Interior Ministry spokesman Phanindra Mani Pokharel said two helicopters were deployed to search for the missing plane. However, visibility in this area is very limited.

“Bad weather can affect search operations. Visibility is very poor and nothing can be seen,” the spokesman said. There is currently no information on the cause of the incident.

The highest mountain in the world (Everest) is located in Nepal and the aviation industry here has been booming in recent years due to the influx of tourists.

However, there have been countless aviation accidents due to erratic weather and the runways located in rugged mountainous areas. The European Union (EU) has also banned all Nepalese airlines from flying into the area’s airspace due to safety concerns.

In 2018, a US-Bangla plane crashed near the international airport in Kathmandu, killing 51 people. More recently, in 2019, Nepal’s tourism minister Rabindra Adhikari was killed when a helicopter carrying him and several others crashed in the east of the country.