KATHMANDU, May 25 (Xinhuanet) -- A twin otter cargo plane with three persons on board crashed Tuesday afternoon in the Mount Qomolangma area in northeastern Nepal, a Nepali official confirmedhere Tuesday evening.

    A plane of Yeti airlines, a private airlines, was found crashedby a rescue team sent to trace the missing plane at Lamajura area of Solokhumbu district, some 200 km northeast of Kathmandu, an official of the Nepali Department of Civil Aviation told Xinhua.

    However, the condition of pilot Prakash Sriwastav, co-pilot Rabi Gurung and flight attendant Nawang Sherpa on board the plane is not known, he said on condition of anonymity.

    A helicopter of the Royal Nepal Army and another of a private airlines spotted the plane crashed in the area. "There was smoke at the spot and the rescue team has not reached the area, therefore the condition of the three persons on board is not known," he said.

    The plane carrying cargo from Nepal's capital Kathmandu to Lukla, near Mount Qomolangma base camp, had been missing since 13.30 local time (0743 GMT).

    The last communications contact with the plane from the area called Lamajura was disconnected after about half an hour the plane set off.

    Rescue is continuing, and the reason of the accident is not known, he added.

    There is a flow of mountaineers in the Nepali side of the 8,848-meter high Mount Qomolangma to scale the world's highest peak in this spring. Enditem