By RIA Novosti
Moscow : A passenger aircraft with at least 46 people on board disappeared from radar screens in the Venezuelan Andes 30 minutes after taking off, the local Union Radio station said on Friday.
The short-haul twin-turboprop ATR-42 plane owned by the local Santa Barbara Airlines with 43 passengers and three crew members on board was on a domestic flight from Merida to Caracas, when it lost contact with air traffic control.
Noel Marquez, head of the Civil Defense for Merida said a rescue operation had been launched for the missing aircraft, which is feared to have crashed in the mountainous region.
The ATR-42 planes have so far been involved in at least 17 accidents around the world. This January, a plane of the same model carrying 14 people crashed near the Venezuelan coast after both its engines failed.