BBC: Afghan airliner wreckage located
The wreckage of an Afghan airliner which disappeared on Thursday has been found in mountains east of the capital, Kabul, Afghan officials say. It was not known whether there were survivors among the 104 people on board. If they are confirmed dead, it will be Afghanistan's worst air crash.
The Kam Air Boeing 737 flight from Herat to Kabul vanished amid heavy snowstorms on Thursday afternoon. It disappeared from radar screens as it was nearing Kabul airport.
There were a number of foreigners on the flight, including nine Turkish nationals, an Italian naval commander, three American aid workers, and an Iranian. The eight crew included six Russians and two Afghans, a spokesman for Kam Air said.
Afghan officials said the missing plane was spotted by a Nato helicopter crew in high, snow-covered mountains near a village about 20km (12 miles) south-east of Kabul. "The wreckage of the plane was found near Band-e Ghazi," Gen Amiri, a senior Afghan commander, told The Associated Press news agency. "It is in high mountains, full of snow. My forces are at the foot of the mountain and we're trying to get a helicopter in there," Gen Amiri said.
A fleet of ambulances has been dispatched from Kabul but a spokesman for the Afghan interior ministry said all passengers were feared dead. What is not clear at this stage is how difficult it will be for search and rescue teams to ascertain whether anyone is alive and to recover the flight recorders to find out what went wrong, says the BBC's Paul Anderson in Islamabad.
"The plan is to try and get the ground teams in there," said Maj Karen Tissot Van Patot, a Nato spokeswoman. "But it is very cold."