Plane goes missing in Nepal with 21 on board

epa05177765 A picture made available on 24 February 2016 shows a twin aircraft of the Tara Airlines landing at Jomsom Airport, in Jomsom, a popular resort town west of Kathmandu, Nepal, 04 April 2015, as Mount Nilgiri is visible on the background. According to media reports on 24 February 2016, Tara Air Viking 9N-AHH Twin Otter, carrying 20 passenger including one Chinese and one Kuwait national, and three crew members, has been missing while en route to Jomsom from Pokhara. EPA/NARENDRA SHRESTHA

KATHMANDU: A passenger plane went missing in a mountainous area of Nepal early on Wednesday with 21 people on board, the airline said.

Tara Air said rescue helicopters had been deployed to search for the Twin Otter aircraft, which lost contact with air traffic control eight minutes after it left the western town of Pokhara on Wednesday morning.