The missing passenger plane in Nepal has been found, according to the army. A search team has found the plane wreckage and reinforcements are on the way, army spokesman Narayan Silwal said Monday. Initially, nothing was said about the fate of the 22 prisoners, including two Germans.
Air traffic control lost contact with the machine around 10 a.m. on Sunday morning, a police spokesperson said. The plane of the Nepalese airline Tara Air was en route with 19 passengers and three crew members from Pokhara – a popular tourist destination about 200 kilometers west of Kathmandu – to Jomsom.
“There are four Indians, two Germans and 16 Nepalese on the plane,” said the police spokesman. The Foreign Ministry in Berlin said on Sunday that the German embassy in Kathmandu is doing everything it can to clarify the matter and is in contact with the Nepalese authorities.
Search suspended due to bad weather
According to military information, the search for the machine was interrupted for the night. The reason was bad weather and darkness, Nepalese army spokesman Narayan Silwal said on Twitter on Sunday.
Even before dark, visibility was poor due to the weather, making the search difficult, said police spokesman Min Bahadur Ghale. In addition to helicopters, rescuers also tried to locate the machine on foot around Mount Dhaulagiri – the seventh highest mountain in the world. It has rained heavily in parts of the country over the past week.
According to the Nepali Times, the missing plane is a 43-year-old Twin Otter 9N-AET.
Already several accidents on flight route
Pokhara is the starting point for numerous treks including the Annapurna circuit. The Annapurna massif is a popular hiking area in the Himalayan country. The Pokhara-Jomsom flight route is considered one of the most accident prone routes in Nepal. At least 74 people have died in five plane crashes along this route since 1997, according to the Nepali Times.
In February 2016, 23 people were killed in an accident on the route. A Tara Air propeller plane crashed in the mountainous region of central Nepal and the burnt-out wreckage was later discovered on a mountain. No one had survived. The machine had previously disappeared on its way from Pokhara to Jomsom.
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
