Missing ultralight

POKHARA: As the three-day-long search operation failed, Nepal Army is set to take over the task of finding the ultralight that went missing from the skies of Pokhara with a pilot and an African tourist aboard. Russian Pilot Valerie Putin, 50, and South African tourist Elizabeth Well, 40, were aboard the 9NALI closed body aircraft that went out of contact minutes after taking off from Pokhara Airport at about 10:35 am on Thursday. The aircraft was supposed to return to the airport by 11:30 am, but had gone out of contact from Sarangkot, said Pokhara Airport Chief Dipak Baral, adding that the airport authorities had written to the NA and Armed Police Force to help trace the missing ultralight. Earlier, Nepal Police had carried out the search operation. As per the airport sources, the search is focused on Sarangkot area and Annapurna base camp.