Nepal plane crash
Nepal plane with 22 onboard, including 4 Indians, crashes near river
Kathmandu: A small passenger plane operated by a private airline in Nopal that went missing on Sunday with 22 people on board, including four Indians has been located, and search and rescue operations have been started.
The Twin Otter plane belonging to Tara Air was flying from Pokhara to Jomsom and went missing on Sunday morning around 9:55 am.
Tara Air flight 9NAET was carrying 13 Nepalis, four Indians, two Germans, and three crew members, Tara Air said in a press release.
"According to the information given by the locals, the Tara Air plane crashed at the mouth of the Lamche river under the landslide of Manapathi Himal. Nepal Army is moving towards the site from the ground and air route," Army spokesperson Narayan Silwal was quoted as saying by ANI.
The plane was tracked down using the GPS location of the pilot's phone, according to local media reports quoting airport authorities.
The plane was being flown by Captain Prabhakar Ghimire.
"The cell phone of Captain Ghimire of the missing aircraft has been ringing and Nepal Army's helicopter has landed in the possible accident area after tracking the captain's phone from Nepal Telecom," Prem Nath Thakur, general manager of Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport, was quoted as saying by Nepal's MyRepublica news portal.
The airline issued the list of passengers which identified four Indians as Ashok Kumar Tripathi, Dhanush Tripathi, Ritika Tripathi, and Vaibhawi Tripathi.
The Nepal government has deployed two private helicopters from Mustang and Pokhara for the search for missing aircraft. The Nepal Army and police personnel have been dispatched to carry out a search through land route, officials added, according to media reports.
The plane 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 Pokhra-Jomsom air route, media reports said citing aviation sources.
"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," the Indian embassy in Nepal tweeted.
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.
— IndiaInNepal (@IndiaInNepal) May 29, 2022
Our emergency hotline number :+977-9851107021. https://t.co/2aVhUrB82b
Earlier, search and rescue operations were disrupted due to inclement weather.
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