Nepal plane goes missing with 22 on board

KATHMANDU: A small passenger plane operated by a private airline went missing in mountainous Nepal on Sunday with 22 people on board during cloudy weather, and officials said search teams had been sent to the site of a fire spotted by local residents.

State-owned Nepal Television said villagers had seen an aircraft on fire at the source of the Lyanku Khola River at the foot of the Himalayan mountain Manapathi, in a district bordering Tibet.

Indian climber dies on Himalayan peak

The plane, a De Havilland Canada DHC-6-300 Twin Otter, took off in the morning for a 20-minute flight but lost contact with the control tower five minutes before it was due to land, government officials said. It was operated by Tara Air.

“Ground search teams are proceeding toward that direction,” Tara Air spokesperson Sudarshan Gartaula told Reuters, referring to the fire site. “It could be a fire by villagers or by cowherds. It could be anything.”