Phone Of Nepal Plane's Pilot Was Ringing, GPS Helped Track Crash Location

Authorities in Nepal have tracked down the crashed Tara Air plane with the help of the pilot's phone. The plane went missing Sunday with 22 people on board.

According to local media reports, the phone of the pilot – identified as Captain Prabhakar Ghimire – was ringing when authorities launched an investigation into the plane's disappearance. The chief of the Tribhuvan International Airport said the status of the aircraft was yet to be ascertained. No details have been revealed about the condition of those on board the plane.

"The cell phone of Captain Ghimire of the missing aircraft has been ringing and Nepal Army's helicopter has landed in the possible accident area after tracking the captain's phone from Nepal Telecom," Prem Nath Thakur, general manager of Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport, was quoted as saying by Nepal's MyRepublica news portal.

On Sunday morning, the Twin Otter 9N-AET aircraft went missing in a mountainous region soon after taking off from the tourist city of Pokhara for Jomsom. An airline spokesperson told local media that the plane lost contact with the control tower 15 minutes after it took off.

Authorities have identified the crew and the passengers of the plane, which include four Indian nationals, two Germans and 13 Nepalese passengers

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, which is the possible site of the crash, Thakur reportedly said. However, the search operation has been called off due to snowfall in the area.

Chief District Officer of Myagdi, Chiranjibi Rana, told The Kathmandu Post that bad weather hampered rescue efforts.

"A team of police has been mobilised at the site. There are no human settlements in the area where locals last spotted the plane. As soon as the weather improves, the helicopter will begin aerial operations," he said.

Tara Air is a subsidiary of Yeti Airlines, a privately owned domestic carrier which services many remote destinations across Nepal.