Plane with 21 aboard missing in Nepal

Kathmandu, Feb 24 : An aircraft with 21 people on board went missing in Nepal on Wednesday, an official said.

The search operation for the Twin Otter aircraft, flying to Jomsom town from Pokhara city of Nepal, has begun, Xinhua reported.

"An army helicopter and a helicopter of Dynasty Air have already been sent for the search operation," said Bhim Raj Rai, Media Officer at Tara Airlines.

The plane lost contact a few minutes after taking off from the airport at 7.47 a.m.

Among the 18 passengers, two were foreigners. However, the nationalities were yet not known. Three crew members were also on the aircraft.

"Weather of both Pokhara and Jomsom is fine today (Wednesday). So we have no clue about what went wrong," Rai said.

The aircraft was added to the fleet last September.

IANS