A commercial airliner with 46 people aboard was reported missing last night in western Venezuela, authorities say.

The two-engine aircraft, owned by Venezuelan airline Santa Barbara, disappeared from radar at 5:30 p.m., half an hour after taking off from the Merida airport in western Venezuela. The plane was destined for Simon Bolivar International Airport, near Caracas, Gen. Antonio Rivero, Venezuela’s emergency management director said, according to the Associated Press.

Mountain villagers reported hearing a huge noise they thought could be a crash soon after the disappearance of the flight.

“We have information of a possible finding,” Rivero told state television, but the plane was still officially listed as missing.

A search and rescue operation was immediately launched, but it was called off for the night due to low visibility and freezing weather. Also, the rugged terrain in the region made it too difficult to continue until light came in the morning. According to Noel Marquez, head of the Civil Defense for Merida, two M17 rescue helicopter will be deployed early Friday morning he told AFP.

There is no valid information on what has happened to the plane or its 43 passengers and 3 crewmembers, Santa Barbara Airlines president Jorge Alvarez told national television.

It is not the first time when a plane crashes in the remote Andean mountain state of Merida, near the Colombian border. Three years ago, 160 people aboard a Colombian airliner died, after the pilot reported both engines had failed.