A passenger plane carrying 22 people went missing in Nepal on Sunday, according to the operating airline and officials, as poor weather hampered a search operation.
In recent years, Nepal’s air industry has expanded, transporting goods and people between remote areas, as well as foreign trekkers and climbers. However, it has a poor safety record.
A Tara Air Twin Otter aircraft at 9:55 a.m. (0410 GMT), took off from Pokhara, Nepal, bound for Jomsom, but air traffic control lost contact after 15 minutes.
Tara Air spokesman Sudarshan Bartaula told journalists that attempts are underway to locate the possible area where the aircraft might be.
He stated that there were 19 passengers and three crew members on board. Two Germans and four Indians were among the passengers, with the remainder being Nepalis.
Jomsom is a popular Himalayan trekking destination about 20 minutes by plane from Pokhara, which is 200 kilometers (120 miles) west of Kathmandu.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Home Affairs, Phanindra Mani Pokharel, said two helicopters had been dispatched for the search.
Inadequate training and maintenance have long plagued Nepal’s aviation industry, resulting in poor safety.
Due to safety concerns, the European Union has banned all Nepali airlines from flying in its airspace.
The Himalayan country also has some of the world’s most difficult and remote runways, which are flanked by snow-capped peaks and have approaches that even experienced pilots find difficult.
Weather can change quickly in the mountains, resulting in hazardous flying conditions.
A US-Bangla Airlines plane crashed near Kathmandu’s notoriously difficult-to-access international airport in March 2018, killing 51 people.
The flight from Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital, crashed and skidded into a football field, bursting into flames.
Twenty passengers miraculously escaped the burning wreckage, but they were severely injured.
According to the investigation, the captain had an emotional breakdown during the flight, distracting the newly qualified co-pilot at the controls at the time of the crash.
The crash was Nepal’s deadliest since 1992, when a Pakistan International Airlines plane crashed on approach to Kathmandu airport, killing all 167 people on board.
