Muristek
Kathmandu, May 29
The fate of 22 persons, including four members of an Indian family from Thane, on board a Nepalese airlines plane remained unclear as bad weather made it difficult to locate the aircraft that went missing today in the mountainous region of the Himalayan nation minutes after taking off from Pokhara.
A team of climbers prepares to leave for rescue operations from the Tribhuvan international airport in Kathmandu. PTIThe plane, belonging to Tara Air, took off at 10.15 am from Pokhara and was to land in Jomsom, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal said. The turboprop Twin Otter 9N-AET plane had four Indian nationals, two Germans and 13 Nepali passengers, besides a three-member Nepali crew, said an airline spokesperson. The airline identified the four Indians as Ashok Kumar Tripathy, his wife Vaibhavi Bandekar and their children Dhanush and Ritika.
The cellphone of the small plane's lone pilot was ringing and it may provide vital clues to soldiers and rescue workers on the aircraft's possible location, said officials. "Nepal Army's helicopter has landed in the possible accident area after tracking the phone signal," a Tribhuvan airport official said. There were unconfirmed reports on new websites that the missing aircraft had been found at Kowang in Mustang.
Untraced 15 minutes after take-off
10.15 am: Turboprop Twin Otter 9N-AET plane takes off from Pokhara
10.30 am: Loses ground contact while flying over Ghorepani
10.35 am: Scheduled to land at famous tourist site Jomsom
Airline's second crash on same route
2016: 23 killed as plane of same airline flying the same route crashes.
March 2018: US-Bangla Air crash at Tribhuvan airport kills 51
Sept 2012: Sita Air plane crashes at Tribhuvan airport, 19 killed
May 2012: Plane crashes near Jomsom airport, 15 dead
In 2016, all 23 persons aboard were killed when a plane of the same airline flying the same route crashed after takeoff.
A Nepal Army spokesman said troops and a helicopter with rescue teams were trying to locate the possible incident site, believed to be in and around Lete, Mustang. "We are trying to reach the place where locals have allegedly seen something burning," the spokesman said.
The aircraft lost ground contact while flying over Ghorepani on the Pokhara-Jomsom route, sources said. According to an air traffic controller at Jomsom Airport, they had an unconfirmed report about a loud noise in Ghasa (Jomsom). It was suspected that the aircraft crashed in the Dhaulagiri area.