An International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) helicopter has reportedly found the wreckage of an Afghan plane that crashed near the Salang Valley between Kabul and Kunduz in Afghanistan.

The aircraft – operated by Afghan airline Pamir Airways – went down early last Monday morning whilst flying over the Hindu Kush mountains on route from Kunduz to Kabul. The weather at the time is reported to have been very foggy.

A helicopter located the wreckage at about 12,000ft up in the mountains, but rescue crews are having difficulty reaching the site of the accident due to the poor weather and limited access. Helicopters could only get within four miles of the wreckage due to fog, snow and rain, so a 70-strong rescue team is reportedly searching the mountains on foot. The mountain region is notoriously difficult to get into, so the US NATO force in Afghanistan has sent out two helicopters and a plane to assist the increasingly urgent search and rescue operation.

Amongst the forty-four passengers and crew on board the flight, six of them are apparently foreign nationals. Three of the passengers were British, identified as David Taylor, Daniel Saville and Chris Carter. At the time of writing, it is not yet known whether they, or any of the other passengers, have survived the crash.

Although military aircraft are said to crash fairly often in the country, passenger and commercial flights commonly run much more smoothly. The cause of the crash is not yet known, but the terrible weather conditions seem to be the chief suspect in this case at present.

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