None of the 46 people on board a Venezuelan plane that has crashed in the Andes is believed to have survived.
Search team officials said they spotted the wreckage from a helicopter flying over high-altitude steep mountainsides, adding that the aircraft appeared to be completely destroyed.
The twin-engined plane crashed just a few kilometres from the mountain city of Merida, notoriously difficult for pilots to navigate around, after taking off there en route to the capital, Caracas, yesterday evening.
Overnight, search teams had trekked through rugged terrain, and at daylight aircraft joined in.
There was no evidence the pilot made distress calls to air traffic controllers.
The aircraft was operated by local airline Santa Barbara.
Mountain villagers reported hearing a huge noise they thought could be a crash soon after the disappearance of flight 518.
The search operation was conducted from the regional hub city of Barinas in western Venezuela.
The passenger list included a well-known Venezuelan political analyst and relatives of a senior government official, authorities said.
Pilots need special training to fly from Merida airport because the city is so tightly hemmed in by mountains that planes must make steep ascents at takeoff.
