Female Chinese tourist among 21 people on board missing Nepalese aircraft

JOMSOM, Feb. 24, 2016 -- Undated file photo shows a Twin Otter plane 9N-AHH landing at an airport in Kathmandu, capital of Nepal. Search operation has begun for a missing aircraft of Tara Airlines in Nepal that was flying with 18 passengers on board. The Twin Otter aircraft was flying to Jomsom from Pokhara on Wednesday morning. It lost contact a few minutes after taking off from the airport at 7:47 AM local time. (Xinhua/Sunil Sharma)

KATHMANDU, Feb. 24 -- A female Chinese tourist was among 21 people on board a missing aircraft of Tara Airlines in Nepal, Bhim Raj Rai, Media Officer of the airlines informed Xinhua Wednesday.

"Among 18 passengers, two are foreigners including one Chinese and one Kuwaiti national," he said.

Passport information indicates the Ying-surnamed female Chinese tourist might be from China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

The Chinese Embassy in Nepal told Xinhua that they don't have official information about the missing Chinese national yet.

The Twin Otter aircraft was flying to Jomsom from Pokhara on Wednesday morning. It lost contact a few minutes after taking off from the airport at 7:47 AM local time.

The aircraft was scheduled to land at Jomsom Airport, district headquarter of Mustang district which is popular for trekking purpose.

Three crew members were on board in the aircraft, which started operation from last September in Nepal. The missing aircraft was flown by Captain Roshan Manandhar.