New Delhi: The fate of four Indians and 18 others, on board a Nepalese airlines aircraft, is yet to be ascertained, as bad weather made it difficult to continue the search for the flight that went missing on Sunday morning, after taking off from Pokhara, news agency PTI reported. The status of the flight belonging to Tara Air, that took off at 10.15am, 200km east of Kathmandu, is still not clear, said a statement issued by Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN).
“The turboprop Twin Otter 9N-AET plane had four Indian nationals, two Germans and 13 Nepali passengers besides a three-member Nepali crew,” PTI quoted Sudarshan Bartaula, a spokesperson at the airlines, as saying. The flight was en route to Jomsom, a popular tourist town in central Nepal.
The four Indians on board have been identified as Mumbai’s Thane-based Ashok Kumar Tripathy, his wife Vaibhavi Bandekar (Tripathy) and their children Dhanush and Ritika.
"As the search operations carried out in possible sites have been hindered due to hilly terrain and bad weather, the status of the aircraft is still unknown," the CAAN statement said, adding, "However, the Rescue Coordination Centre remains open for 24 hours and the search operations will be intensified through air as well as land routes."
The statement further said that an army helicopter along with private choppers have been engaged in the search.
"Poor visibility due to bad weather is hindering the efforts. The plane has not yet been located. We are trying to reach the place where locals have allegedly seen something burning. Once our troops reach the location then only we can verify the findings officially and independently," PTI quoted a Nepal army spokesman as saying.
He further said that the army has halted the search and rescue operations for Sunday due to inadequate daylight and inclement weather. The search will resume early Monday morning both from air and ground, he said, adding that the search and rescue team is on standby at Jomsom.
Meanwhile, in a tweet, the Indian embassy in Nepal issued an emergency hotline number: +977-9851107021.
"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,” a statement by the embassy said.
According to aviation sources, the aircraft, led by captain Prabhakar Prasad Ghimire, lost contact with the tower from the sky above Ghorepani on the Pokhara-Jomsom route.
An air traffic controller at Jomsom Airport said that they have an unconfirmed report about a loud noise in Ghasa of Jomsom. It is suspected that the aircraft crashed in the Dhaulagiri area.
According to reports, a Nepal Army helicopter with 10 soldiers and two employees of the civil aviation authority, landed on the bank of a river near Narshang Monastery, the possible site of the crash.
It is to be noted that the aircraft was located after Nepal Telecom tracked down the cellphone of pilot Captain Prabhakar Ghimire through the Global Positioning System (GPS) network.
According to Chief District Officer of Myagdi Chiranjibi Rana, locals reported that the flight made two circles at Khaibang and headed to Kiti Danda near Lete Pass.
"A team of police has been mobilised at the site. The site is a 12-hour walk from Lete, he said, adding, “There are no human settlements in the area where locals last spotted the plane.”
Earlier in the day, a helicopter that flew from Pokhara in search of the missing aircraft returned without any success due to bad weather.