Afghan plane search draws blank

Flights out of Kabul have been suspended due to snow

Nato troops searching for a missing Afghan airliner with 104 passengers on board have suspended the operation until the morning.

Afghan and Nato sources have denied earlier reports that the wreckage of the plane had been found.

Speaking to the BBC, a spokesman for the Afghan defence ministry said no crash site had yet been discovered.

"We have not found a single piece of the plane or wreckage," Gen Zaher Azimi told BBC News.

He described reports of wreckage being found east of Kabul as "baseless".

Bad weather

The Kam Air Boeing 737 flight from Herat to Kabul vanished amid heavy snowstorms on Thursday afternoon.

The aircraft lost contact with traffic control after being turned away from the airport because of the weather.

The search of the mountainous terrain around the capital where the plane disappeared is expected to resume on Saturday morning.

The Turkish government has listed the names of nine Turkish nationals who were on board the Kam Air flight.

Three US women are also reported to have been on board.

The eight crew included six Russians and two Afghans, a spokesman for Kam Air said.

Kabul and the surrounding area have been hit by freak snowstorms.

Flights out of Kabul have been suspended.

Kam Air is Afghanistan's only private airline. It was set up last year and flies national and regional routes.