The Nepali Army helicopter which had flown from Pokhara for the search had to land at Kobang due to dense fog cover. Another chopper of the Fishtail Air is at Jomsom airport waiting for the weather to clear, administrative officer at the District administration Office Mustang, Devendra Raj Pandey, said.
The Fishtail Air's helicopter also aborted search and returned to Jomsom due to the inclement weather.
The search for the airplane has been intensified after contact with it was lost. The plane had taken off from Pokhara at 9.55 am.
Pandey added that a team of Nepali Army, Nepal Police and the Armed Police Force has left for the area towards the Dhaulagiri mountain as the locals suspected that the plane might have gone missing between the Dhaulagiri and the Manapathi mountains.
Plane had flown in circles frequently at height lower than average, say locals
Meanwhile, a report from Balewa said quoting the locals that the Tara Air plane with call sign 9N AET, which went missing en route from Pokhara to Mustang, had reached Thasang this morning, flying at an altitude lower than the normal.
Bikal Bagdas of Boksekhola, Thasang rural municipality-2, said he saw the airplane flying in circles two or three times some distance above the house amidst drizzle.
"We were having lunch, the plane had encircled many times. It was raining and foggy," he said, adding that he had not seen planes flying to Mustang at such a low altitude before this.
"It encircled two or three times as if it will hit the house. We, all villagers, had come out of our houses and looked at it. After some time, it took height and flew away. We thought that it was going round because it had been raining," Bagdas said.
According to the Tribhuvan International Airport sources in Kathmandu, the 'emergency location transmitter signal' has been found. As per the signal, it looks like the aircraft has hit some object or mountain. However, the place where the plane is suspected to have crashed is high up in the mountain from the human settlement, the TIA source said.
"That mountain is very far and at difficult place. It is not possible to go there now. A helicopter can be flown there once the weather improves," he added.
A total of 22 people: 13 Nepali, four Indian and two Germans and three crew members are onboard the plane.
