Rescuers are searching a rugged area of Peru's Amazon jungle for a Tans Peru plane carrying 46 people that lost contact with air traffic controllers as it approached a small mountain airport last night.
The Fokker F-28 plane's flight declared an emergency, minutes before it was to land in Chachapoyas, according to Mr Jorge Belevan, spokesman for the state airline.
The plane was carrying 42 passengers, including seven children and one infant, and four crew members, Mr Belevan said. Two of those aboard are non-nationals, he added.
He said ground rescue teams would continue searching in an 18-mile radius of the airport.
Earlier, Tans said heavy rain had forced Peru's army and air force to call off air searches.
Mr Belevan said authorities hoped the plane, built in 1975, was able to make an emergency landing near Chachapoyas.
Chachapoyas, 390 miles north of the Peruvian capital, Lima, is often visited by tourists traveling to Kuelap, a mountain citadel predating the Spanish conquest of the Americas.