Gopal Sharma

KATHMANDU, (Reuters) – A small plane carrying 22 passengers disappeared in Nepal’s mountainous region on Sunday. Officials said that search teams were sent to the scene of a local fire.

According to Nepal Television, villagers saw an airplane on fire near the Lyanku Khola River. It is located at the foothills of Manapathi in Himalayan mountains. The incident occurred in Nepal’s bordering Tibet.

De Havilland Canada DHC-6300 Twin Otter aircraft took off early in the morning. However, it lost contact with the tower just five minutes before the scheduled landing. Tara Air operated the plane.

“Ground search team are moving in that direction,” Sudarshan Gartaula, a spokesperson for Tara Air said to Reuters. He was referring specifically to the fire. The fire could have started by cowherds, or village villagers. You could call it anything.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, (CAAN), a team is also headed for that region.

It stated that the location of aircraft “remains unknown at this time due to bad weather conditions and complicated terrain.” The rescue coordination center will continue to be open 24 hours and ground and aerial searches for the aircraft will intensify.

According to the airline, there were four Indians on board, as well as two Germans and sixteen Nepalis. The plane also had three crew members.

The plane took off from Pokhara, a tourist destination, about 125km (80 mi) west Kathmandu. It flew towards Jomsom. This popular tourist destination and pilgrimage spot is located about 80 km north of Pokhara.

Flightradar24, a flight-tracking site, reported that the aircraft missing, registered number 9N–AET, took off in April 1979.

According to weather officials, thick clouds had covered the Pokhara-Jomson since early morning.

The record for air accidents is quite impressive in Nepal, which has eight of the top 14 mountains on earth, including Everest. The weather in Nepal can be unpredictable and the airstrips tend to be located in remote mountainous regions.

A flight by US-Bangla Airlines from Dhaka, Nepal to Kathmandu was destroyed when it touched down. 51 people were killed.

When the Pakistan International Airlines plane tried to land at Kathmandu in 1992, it crashed into a hill and killed all 167 of its passengers.