A plane operated by a private airline in Nepal has gone missing with 22 people onboard. Cloudy weather is preventing search helicopters from flying into the area of the flight’s last known location, officials have said.

The Tara Air plane was said to have taken off from the tourist town of Pokhara, 80 miles (125km) west of the capital, Kathmandu, headed towards Jomsom, about 48 miles to the north-west, the officials said. Tara Air mainly flies Canadian-built Twin Otter turboprop planes.

“One search helicopter returned to Jomsom due to bad weather without locating the plane,” the Nepal’s civil aviation authority said in a statement.

“Helicopters are ready to take off for search from Kathmandu, Pokhara and Jomsom once weather conditions improve. Army and police search teams have left towards the site.”

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The airline said the plane was carrying four Indian people, two Germans and 16 Nepalis, including three crew.

The plane lost contact with the control tower five minutes before it was due to land at Jomsom, a tourist and pilgrimage site, an airline official said on condition of anonymity.
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The country’s weather office said there had been thick cloud cover in the Pokhara-Jomson area since the morning.

Prem Kumar Dani, a police official, said a land rescue-and-search team had been sent to the area near Mount Dhaulagiri, the world’s seventh highest peak at 8,167 metres (26,795 ft).

Nepal, home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains, including Everest, has a record of air accidents. Its weather can change suddenly and airstrips are typically in difficult-to-reach mountainous areas.

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha is the Aviation Correspondent at BusinessDay Media Limited, publishers of BusinessDay Newspapers. She is also the Deputy Editor, BusinessDay Weekender Magazine, the Saturday Weekend edition of BusinessDay. She holds a BSC in Mass Communication from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Masters degree in Marketing at the University of Lagos. As the lead writer on the aviation desk, Ifeoma is responsible and in charge of the three weekly aviation and travel pages in BusinessDay and BDSunday. She also overseas and edits all pages of BusinessDay Saturday Weekender. She has written various investigative, features and news stories in aviation and business related issues and has been severally nominated for award in the category of Aviation Writer of the Year by the Nigeria Media Nite-Out awards; one of the Nigeria’s most prestigious media awards ceremonies. Ifeoma is a one-time winner of the prestigious Nigeria Media Merit Award under the 'Aviation Writer of the Year' Category. She is the 2025 Eloy Award winner under the Print Media Journalist category. She has undergone several journalism trainings by various prestigious organisations. Ifeoma is also a fellow of the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.

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