Plane goes missing

2005-02-04 08:01

Kabul - A Boeing 737 plane carrying 104 people has gone missing in Afghanistan after failing to arrive in the capital amid heavy winter snow storms, officials said on Friday.

An official from private Afghan company Kam Air said there had been no contact with the jet travelling from the western city of Herat to Kabul since late on Thursday afternoon when it had requested to land in Pakistan.

"Yes the plane went missing. There were 96 passengers on board. The plane was going from Herat to Kabul," said Attila Kamgar, Kam Air's financial controller, adding he did not know the nationalities of those on the plane.

"... the plane requested to talk with the (Kabul control) tower. Then there was no more information. After one hour the plane requested to land in Peshawar (in Pakistan) and Peshawar said it did not land," Kamgar added.

Shah Mohammad, a Kam Air representative, said besides 96 passengers, eight crew members were also on board.

Still searching

Kam Air operations deputy manager Seda Mohammad Sedawi said the plane last made contact with air traffic controllers in Kabul at 15:15.

"We have checked with close airports in the region. Most of them have replied that no such plane has landed," he said.

"Due to the bad weather, the plane could not land in Kabul. It made contact with the tower at 15:15 and then the contact was broken."

Kamgar said Peshawar airport officials had told them they had no knowledge of the plane when contacted by Kam Air later on Thursday at 19:00. The Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority said meanwhile they had no record of a Kam Air flight landing in any Pakistani city last night.

The Afghan Civil Aviation Information Service said: "We cannot confirm or deny that the Kam Air flight has gone missing."

The company had contacted the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), the NATO-led peacekeeping force, for help. An ISAF spokesperson said the body was still trying to locate the plane at 07:00 local time.

United States military meanwhile said they were prepared to assist in the hunt for the plane if requested. "A plane has been listing as missing. It is a private Afghan airline, but if needed we will be prepared to provide whatever support we can," said US military spokesperson Major Mark McCann.

Another Kam Air official, Aziz Ahmad, refused to speculate on the fate of the plane, saying it could have landed elsewhere. "We can't confirm whether it has crashed. We don't know where it has landed," he said.

Planes bound for Kabul are regularly diverted to Peshawar during the winter months, where blizzards reduce visibility and make landing hazardous in the mountainous region. Kabul airport is also closed to civilian aircraft at night.

Communications are often extremely poor in Afghanistan, where 40% of the country is 1 800m above sea level and much of the landscape is rugged mountain terrain.

- AFP