An airport official says the small plane went missing Wednesday while flying in the mountains.
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Sagar Mani Pathak, Chief District Officer of Myagdi district, said, “The crash site is in a very complex geography due to which it took long hours to find out”.
Army spokesperson Brigadier General Tara Bahadur Karki told the Kathmandu Post that soldiers found the wing and tail section of the plane, but were still searching for the fuselage. Two children were among the passengers.
The Twin Otter turboprop aircraft lost contact with air traffic control eight minutes after taking off from the tourist town of Pokhara early on Wednesday.
The plane was reportedly traveling from Pokhara, 125 miles west of Kathmandu, to Jomsom, which is the starting point for trekkers going into mountainous areas. He updated the number to 23 – including two foreigners, one Chinese and one Kuwaiti – after learning that two infants were also on the plane, even if their names were not on the initial report.
Tara Air spokesman Bhim Rai initially said 21 people were on board, with three crew members among them.
A helicopter search is being hampered by poor weather conditions, the Associated Press news agency reports.
Residents in the area said they heard a huge explosion and saw flames shooting up from the forest and called security officials.
“The wreckage of the plane was found in a completely burnt state in Solighopte in Myagdi district”, said Minister for Culture, Tourism and Aviation Aananda Prasad Pokharel.
The expected flying time for the plane from Pokhara to Jomsom town is approximately 20 minutes.
In 60 years, Nepal has suffered more than 70 crashes and more than 700 fatalities, leaving the country’s aviation sector open to strong criticism from global authorities.
But the areas adjoining the suspected crash site were covered in a cloud of dust on Tuesday following dry landslides in Mt Annapurna South base since Monday night.
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Nepal s last major aviation accident was last May when a USA military helicopter helping with natural disaster relief crashed in bad weather, killing six Marines and seven other people.
