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Nepal plane carrying 22 passengers, including 4 Indians, goes missing
Nepal plane Tara Air NEAT aircraft was carrying four Indians and three Japanese nationals. The remaining were Nepali citizens, ANI reported.
A Tara Air's Twin Otter aircraft carrying 22 passengers - including four Indians and three Japanese nationals - flying from Pokhara to Jomsom in Nepal, lost contact with the airport authorities on Sunday morning, news agency ANI reported. The aircraft bearing call-sign 9 NAET lost contact at 9:55am, it added. The remaining were Nepali citizens.
"The aircraft was seen over the sky of Jomsom in Mustang district and then had diverted to Mount Dhaulagiri after which it hadn't come into contact," chief district officer Netra Prasad Sharma told ANI.
"The Nepal home ministry has deployed two private helicopters from Mustang and Pokhara for the search for the missing aircraft. The Nepal Army chopper is also being prepared to be deployed for the search operation," ANI quoted spokesperson of the home ministry Phadindra Mani Pokharel as saying.
A Nepali Army Mi-17 helicopter has recently left for Lete, Mustang, which is the suspected crashed region of the missing Tara Air aircraft, said spokesperson of the Nepali Army Narayan Silwal.
As per the police officials, the aircraft has been suspected to have crashed in the "Titi" area of Lete in Mustang District.
"Locals from Titi have called and informed us that they have heard an unusual sound as if there was some bang. We are deploying a helicopter to the area for the search operation," Ram Kumar Dani, DSP of district police office, Mustang, said.
Mustang is one of the mountainous and fifth-largest districts of the Himalayan nation which hosts the pilgrimage of Muktinath Temple. The district, also known as "Land beyond the Himalayas", is located in the Kali Gandaki valley of the Himalayan region of Western Nepal.
Mustang (from the Tibetan Muntan meaning "fertile plain") the traditional region is largely dry and arid. The world's deepest gorge that goes down three miles vertical between Dhaulagiri and Annapurna mountains runs through this district.
Nepal's aviation industry has a poor safety record.
In February 2016, the Twin Otter aircraft - operated by Tara Air - crashed in mountainous western Nepal, killing all 23 people on board. The plane was travelling from Pokhara to Jomsom and lost contact with the control tower shortly after taking off. Most of those on board were Nepalis.
The plane was carrying three crew and 20 passengers, one of them Chinese and one Kuwaiti.
