By Frank Jack Daniel
CARACAS (Reuters) - A Venezuelan passenger plane with 46people aboard went missing and likely crashed in a remotemountain region soon after taking off from an Andean city justbefore dusk on Thursday, authorities said.
Mountain villagers reported hearing a huge noise theythought could be a crash after the twin-engine plane flew outof the high-altitude city of Merida headed for the capitalCaracas roughly 300 miles (500 km) away, Civil Defence officialGerardo Rojas said.
"We have information of a possible finding," said NationalCivil Defence chief Antonio Rivero, although he added the planewas still officially listed as missing.
"We do not know what condition the passengers are in," hesaid.
Operated by local airline Santa Barbara, flight 518 hadbeen out of contact with air traffic controllers for hours bylate Thursday and search teams were heading to the ruggedmountain region where the plane was thought to have come down.
Advance rescue teams travelled toward the Paramo Mifafivalley, a chilly area in a region of some snow-capped peaks ofup to 13,000 feet (4,000 meters) that is home to condors andhiking routes that make it popular with backpacker tourists.
Weather conditions and visibility were described as optimumat the time of take off by one air rescue official. He saidteams would search by foot until first light, when twohelicopters would be dispatched.
Venezuela's civil aviation authority said the plane wascarrying 43 passengers and three crew members. The passengerlist included a well-known Venezuelan political analyst andrelatives of a senior government official, authorities said.
Family members who had waited for their loved ones toarrive in Caracas received help from state psychologists todeal with anxiety.
The head of Santa Barbara, a small Venezuelan airline thatcovers domestic routes and has seven Merida flights a day, saidthe roughly 20-year-old plane was well maintained and had norecord of technical problems.
The pilot had worked with the airline for eight years andreceived special training for flying in the Andes. SantaBarbara President Jorge Alvarez told television stationGlobovision.
"I have to believe the pilot was certainly both competentand well-suited" for the flight, he said.
Early editions of most Venezuelan newspapers splashed newsof the missing plane on their front pages, with some reportingvillagers saying they saw the aircraft crash.
The plane was an ATR 42-300, a turboprop plane built byFrench-Italian company ATR, the civil aviation authority saidin a statement.
The ATR 42 series has been involved in at least 17accidents since the plane first flew in 1984, according to theAviation Safety Network, a private air safety monitoringagency.
Thursday's was the second serious incident involving aVenezuelan flight in Venezuela this year after a plane carrying14 people, including eight Italians and one Swiss passenger,crashed into the sea close to a group of Venezuelan islands inJanuary.
(Additional reporting by Saul Hudson, Ana Isabel Martinezand Enrique Andres Pretel; Editing by Saul Hudson and EricBeech)
