International Hot

Source: BBC

Date: 24/02/16

An archive picture of a Tara Airlines plane landing in Jomson, a popular resort town

A small passenger plane carrying 23 people has gone missing in a mountainous area of western Nepal.

The Twin Otter aircraft, operated by Tara Air, was travelling from Pokhara to Jomsom and lost contact with the control tower shortly after taking off.

Officials said the plane was carrying three crew and 20 passengers, one of them Chinese and one Kuwaiti. Two of those on board were children.

Nepal's aviation industry has a poor safety record. But Sanjiv Gautam, director general of Nepal's Civil Aviation Authority, told the BBC's Nepali Service the aircraft was new and the weather had been good. "We are surprised to know that it has gone missing," he said.

He said the aircraft lost contact with the control tower at Pokhara 10 minutes after take-off. The identities of those on board have yet to be released.

Three helicopters are searching for the missing plane, Tara air said on its website, adding that "the weather at both origin and destination airports was favourable" for the 20-minute flight. Nepal's army said, however, that fog was hampering the search for the Twin Otter.