An aircraft of Tara Air which took off from the Lamidanda airport in Khotang has gone missing today. The plane had taken off at 3 in the afternoon with 22 people onboard, three of whom are crew members.
The 9N-AFX Twin-Otter plane had lost contact with the traffic control tower five minutes into the air. Missing with the plane are Captain AR Shakya, his assistant Satindra Shrestha, and airhostess AS Gurung and passengers Ji Sherpa, Ke Sherpa, S Tamang, A Tamang, RT Tamang, TG Lama, KW Lama, P Tamang, KN Lama, ZD Sherpa, LW Sherpa, SB Lama, T Sherpa, Miss TY Sherpa, PW Tamang, TB Tamang, TW Sherpa and a foreigner, whose nationality is yet to be confirmed.
A Nepal Army aircraft is on the ready for a rescue mission but has not been able to take off due to bad weather and low visibility. Meanwhile a search operation is ongoing to locate the plane.