Nepal Airlines plane carrying 18 people goes missing after take off

A PLANE carrying 15 passengers and three crew has gone missing shortly after taking off from a Himalayan tourist town.

Poor record ... Nepal has suffered a number of air crashes in recent years. Here, a Nepal Airways Twin Otter aircraft (R) lie...

A NEPAL Airlines plane carrying 15 passengers and three crew has gone missing shortly after take off from a popular tourist resort, police and an airline spokesman said.

“The Nepal Airlines plane with 14 passengers took off from Pokhara airport at 1.30pm and disappeared 15 minutes later,” Nepal police spokesman Ganesh KC said.

A total of 18 people were on board, the 14 adult passengers, plus one infant and three crew members, an airline spokesman said.

“One of the passengers is from Denmark,” spokesman Ram Hari Sharma told AFP.

The remaining passengers were from Nepal.

The airline had alerted police to “find the plane’s location” and are “preparing for rescue operations,” Sharma said.

The state-run carrier was travelling from Pokhara to the town of Jumla, 353 kilometres west of the capital Kathmandu, when air traffic controllers lost contact with the pilot.

The incident highlights safety concerns about the Himalayan nation’s aircraft.

Nepal, which counts tourism as a major contributor to its economy, has suffered a number of air crashes in recent years, which have usually been attributed to inexperienced pilots, poor management and maintenance.

A Chinese tourist and a local pilot were killed when an ultralight aircraft crashed into a hill in the tourist town of Pokhara last October.

The European Union in December black-listed all the country’s airlines, citing their poor safety records, and banned them from flying to the EU.