An ATR 42-300 plane, belonging to Santa Barbara Airlines, with 46 passengers on board is missing after it took off Thursday, at 4:59 p. m. local time from the Venezuelan city of Merida, heading to Simon Bolivar International Airport, near Caracas.

According to AFP, the plane has allegedly crashed in the Coyado del Condor region of the northern Andes, after some villagers reported they had seen the plane go down and had heard a crash in the mountains. Police and national guard have left immediately to search the area.

General Antonio Rivero, Venezuela’s emergency management director, told the media that the rescue crews “have information regarding the possible discovery of the plane” in the mountainous region, but the aircraft’s condition is unknown yet.

The twin-engine aircraft took off in good weather, and the journey should have taken an hour and 45 minutes, but 30 minutes after the take-off, the aircraft lost contact with control towers and disappeared from radar.

The officials of Santa Barbara airline, a small Venezuelan airline covering domestic routes, said that although the plane was 20-years old it was in good technical conditions.

They said that the pilot was “both competent and well-suited.”

According to the Venezuela’s civil aviation authority there were 43 passengers and 3 members of the crew on board. Reuters reports that the passenger list included a well-known Venezuelan political analyst and relatives of a senior government official.

The family members and relatives of the passengers on the missing plane, have gathered to wait for their loved ones, and received counseling. They are due to fly Friday to the area the plane is believed to have crashed.

The ATR 42-300 aircraft was built by French-Italian company ATR. The ATR 42 series has been involved in at least 17 accidents since its first flying in 1984, according to the Aviation Safety Network.

This is the third plane crash in as many months in Venezuela. In January, 14 people died after the aircraft crashed into the sea north of Caracas; a Cessna with seven passengers on board crashed in the Amazon in December.