Nepal Plane Crashes With 22 Passengers, Including 4 Indians On Board; Located 5 Hours Later

According to an air traffic controller at Jomsom Airport, they have an unconfirmed report about a loud noise in Ghasa of Jomsom.

Kathmandu/New Delhi: A Nepalese private airlines plane with 22 people on board, including four Indians, was found crashed in Nepal nearly five hours after it went missing in the mountainous region of the Himalayan nation. The plane had reportedly taken off from the tourist city of Pokhara on Sunday morning. The Twin Otter 9N-AET plane belonging to Tara Air, which took off at 10:15 am from Pokhara, lost contact with the tower just 15 minutes later, according to a Tara Air spokesperson.

There are four Indian nationals, two Germans and 13 Nepali passengers besides a three member Nepali crew, said Sudarshan Bartaula, spokesperson at the airlines. The three-member crew of the aircraft was led by captain Prabhakar Prasad Ghimire.

The aircraft was scheduled to land at Jomsom Airport in the Western mountainous region at 10:15 am. The aircraft lost contact with the tower from the sky above Ghorepani on the Pokhara-Jomsom air route, aviation sources said.

Missing Nepal plane with 22 on board found | As it happened

• No survivors found at Tara Air plane crash site, collection of dead bodies begins: Nepal media
• The search and rescue operation has been called off  due to the “snowfall at the possible air crash site”, officials said. “Due to the snowfall at the possible air crash site, the search and rescue operation has been called off for today. All the helicopters deployed for search and rescue have been called back to bases,” Premnath Thakur, General Manager, TIA, said.
• Indian embassy in Nepal issues helpline: “Tara Air flight 9NAET that took off from Pokhara at 9.55 AM today with 22 people onboard, including 4 Indians, has gone missing. Search and rescue operation is on. The embassy is in touch with their family. Our emergency hotline number : +977-9851107021,” tweeted IndiaInNepal.
• According to an air traffic controller at Jomsom Airport, they have an unconfirmed report about a loud noise in Ghasa of Jomsom.
• It is suspected that the aircraft crashed in the Dhaulagiri area, reported My Republica newspaper quoting DSP Ram Kumar Dani of Mustang. Dani said that a helicopter had flown from Jomsom to search for the aircraft.
• 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.
• Home Ministry has deployed two private helicopters from Mustang and Pokhara for the search of missing aircraft. Nepal Army chopper is also being prepared to be deployed for the search: Phadindra Mani Pokharel, spokesperson at Home Ministry to ANI
• A Nepali Army Mi-17 helicopter has recently left for Lete, Mustang, which is the suspected region of crash of the missing Tara Air flight: said Narayan Silwal, spokesperson for Nepali Army