POKHARA: Nepali search teams located the wreckage of a missing passenger plane on Monday, an army official said, but no details were provided about the 22 people on board.
"A search team has located the wreckage of the plane and shared a picture. Additional teams are heading there so we can get details," said Nepal Army spokesman Narayan Silwal.
The passengers included two Germans and four Indians, with the remainder Nepali. Before the wreckage was found, Pokhara Airport spokesman Dev Raj Subedi told AFP early Monday morning that rescue helicopters and army troops on the ground had shifted their search to a suspected crash site.
"The search operation has resumed... There has not been any significant improvement in the weather. Two helicopters have flown toward the area but they have not been able to land yet," he said.
Subedi said that they had followed GPS, mobile and satellite signals to the location.
Tara Air's 9 NAET twin-engine aircraft was found crashed in Kowang village of the Mustang district hours after it went missing in the mountainous district on Sunday morning. On Sunday, all the helicopters deployed for the search of the crashed aircraft were called off after snowfall in the Mustang district. Earlier on Monday, the Nepal Army resumed search and rescue efforts.
According to the information given by the locals to the Nepal Army, the Tara Air plane crashed at the mouth of the Lamche river under the landslide of Manapathi Himal. Army spokesperson Narayan Silwal said that the Nepal Army was moving towards the site from the ground and air route.
"The aircraft was seen over the sky of Jomsom in Mustang and then had diverted to Mt. Dhaulagiri after which it hadn't come into contact," Chief District Officer Netra Prasad Sharma confirmed to ANI over the phone.
A similar Tara Air Twin Otter plane had gone missing in 2016 with 23 people on board. The wreckage of the plane was later found near the village of Dana in Myagdi district. All 23 on board perished in the crash.
