Rain hampers Peru plane search

Relatives of missing are desperate for information

The search has resumed for a missing Peruvian passenger aircraft which disappeared over the Amazon jungle on Thursday.

The search is only taking place on the ground as planes and helicopters from the Peruvian air force have been unable to take off because of heavy rains.

Air traffic controllers lost contact with the aircraft, carrying 46 people on board, minutes before it was due to land in the northern town of Chachapoyas.

Relatives of the passengers are due to travel to Chachapoyas later today.

President Alejandro Toledo is said to be personally co-ordinating efforts to find the plane.

No information

Heavy seasonal rain "complicated search and rescue efforts", the Vice-President Raul Diez Canseco said, and more heavy rains are being forecast on Friday.

Tans Peru launched its Chiclayo-Chachapoyas route in November

It is still unclear where exactly the Tans Peru airline's Fokker F-28 went down as it approached the mountain airport at Chachapoyas.

Civil defence officials in Lima spoke of possible sightings of the plane in Lonya Chico area, in the mountainous region of Luya.

However, they said it was too early to speak of the condition of the plane or of any survivors.

"Up to this point, we have no information about the plane or any possible survivors," said Horacio Baella, the mayor of Luyo, which is close to Chachapoyas.

Jorge Belevan, spokesman for the Tans Peru airline, said there is still hope that the plane was able to make and emergency landing near Chachapoyas.

He said the aircraft had enough fuel on board to land at another site and the weather conditions were "normal".

The airline said the flight had originated in Lima with 38 passengers, and picked up four more in Chiclayo.

Boosting tourism

The missing include a Belgian man, Cristopher Dubois, and his wife Sofia Porfirio, according to Mr Bevelan.

Eight children are also said to be among the passengers.

Chachapoyas, the capital of Amazonas province, situated some 650 kilometres (390 miles) north of Lima, is close to ancient Indian ruins, and is frequently visited by foreign tourists.

Tans Peru launched its twice-weekly Chiclayo-Chachapoyas route in November 2002 as part of a plan to boost tourism in the mountainous jungle region.

The BBC's Elliott Gotkine says that although the area around Chachapoyas is jungle, local people say access by road is quite good.

In 1987, difficult terrain and heavy rains of Peru's mountains delayed search efforts for 10 days, when a plane with 46 people on board went down near the jungle city of Saposoa.