Pokhara (Nepal) - (AFP) - The search for a plane carrying 22 people, including two Germans, which went missing over a mountainous area in Nepal, was suspended Sunday evening, and will resume at dawn on Monday.

"The connection with a domestic flight bound for Jomsom from Pokhara was lost," Sidrashan Partawla, a spokesman for the Kathmandu-based Tara Air, told AFP.

The twin-engined "Twin Otter" aircraft took off from the city of Pokhara (central-western Nepal) at 09:55 (04:10 GMT) before losing radio contact with it.

Bartola pointed out that the plane's crew consisted of three people, and it was carrying 19 passengers, including two Germans and four Indians.

The flight between Jomsom, known as a starting point for those who go to the Himalayas, and Pokhara, the second largest city in Nepal, located 200 km west of the capital, Kathmandu, takes 20 minutes.

The last location where the plane was spotted is in the vicinity of Goribani, a town located at an altitude of about 2,900 metres.

All day Sunday, paramedics conducted combing operations in this mountainous region in western Nepal, which is difficult to reach by foot or helicopters.

A member of the Nepalese army, Baburam Shrestha, told AFP that the infantry forces will spend the night in a school in the area and will receive reinforcements on Monday morning.

"We will resume searches by helicopter tomorrow morning as soon as the weather becomes clear," he added.

"At the moment, we do not know where the plane is and in what condition it is. We have not received information about a fire or anything else that could give an indication," Raj Subedi, a spokesman for Pokhara airport, told AFP.

"The weather makes search operations difficult. Three helicopters have had to stop their work," he added.

A spokesman for the Interior Ministry, Vanendra Mani Pokharel, had previously declared that "vision is so poor that we cannot see anything."

The Nepalese air transport sector has achieved a real boom in recent years, especially in terms of transporting tourists, walkers, mountain climbers, and freight in remote areas that are difficult to reach by land.

Nepal is a poor country in the Himalayas, and its air security record is poor due to poor pilot training and aircraft maintenance.

The European Union closed its skies to all Nepali airlines for safety reasons.

The country has airports, some of the most remote and dangerous in the world, located on snow-capped peaks.

In March 2018, 51 people were killed when a US-Bangla Bangladeshi plane crashed near Kathmandu airport.

The following year, three people died after a plane had problems taking off that led to it colliding with two helicopters.

The accident occurred at Lukla Airport, which is a gateway for those heading to Everest, and it is known that the processes of taking off and landing from it are among the most complex in the world.

The most serious incident in terms of human losses dates back to 1992, when 167 people were killed on board a Pakistan International Airlines plane that crashed near Kathmandu airport.

Two months ago, 113 people died when a Thai Airways plane crashed in the same area.

In May, Nepal's second international airport was opened in Bhairahawa, to enable Buddhist pilgrims from all over Asia to reach nearby Lumbini, where the Buddha is located.

The $76 million project is supposed to take pressure off Kathmandu International Airport.