Emergency in Nepal after aviation authorities lost contact with a plane.
Tara Air's twin-engined Twin Otter had left Jomsom and was traveling to Pokhara with 22 passengers on board: 19 passengers (Nepali, German and Indian nationals) and three crew members.
As confirmed by the company's spokesman, Sudarshan Bartaula, he disappeared from the communication network at 9.55 (local time) and there are no more contacts along the route which was supposed to last a few tens of minutes.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of the Interior, Phanindra Mani Pokharel, explained that two helicopters are currently engaged in research, but specified that visibility is poor in the area. "Bad weather is likely to hinder search operations - he said -. Visibility is so poor that you can't see anything."
ACCIDENTS - In March 2018, a US-Bangla Airlines plane crashed near Kathmandu International Airport, 51 were the victims. The following year a plane taking off went off the runway at Lukla airport near Everest, hitting two helicopters and killing three people. In 2019, a helicopter crashed into a hilly area to the east of the country, killing seven people, including the then Minister of Tourism, Rabindra Adhikari.
(Unioneonline / ss)