A twin-engine Tara Air flight 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 remaining passengers were Nepali citizens.
As per the report, the Tara Air 9 NAET twin-engine aircraft, which was on a 15-minute scheduled flight, lost contact shortly after take-off. at 9:55 am local time.
“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,” Said the Nepal Home Ministry Phadindra Mani Pokharel to the press.
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.
In March 2014, a Malaysian aeroplane with 157 passengers on board went missing in the same circumstance and was traced not to be found to date.
