A small plane carrying 23 people including two foreigners and two children has gone missing in west Nepal and feared to have crashed, an airport official said on Wednesday.

The Twin Otter aircraft, operated by Tara Air, was on an 18-minute flight from Pokhara, 125 km (80 miles) west of Kathmandu, to Jomsom when it lost contact with the control tower. It has 20 passengers and a crew of three on board. Mustang Police Chief DSP Harihar Yogi confirmed that the Twin Otter is missing.

"Two helicopters are on a search-and-rescue mission," Pokhara airport official Yogendra Kunwar said. "There is no trace of the aircraft so far." Kumar. He also added that there was no landing strip between the two airports.

Though helicopters had launched the search in the route of the plane two hours after it was supposed to have landed, but the poor weather conditions have made the job difficult, Kumar said.

More details are awaited.

With agency inputs.