Search team officials said they spotted the wreckage from a helicopter flying over high-altitude, steep mountain sides, 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 from there for the capital of Caracas on yesterday evening.

Overnight search teams had also trekked through rugged terrain, and at daylight aircraft scoured the Andes.

There was no evidence the pilot made distress calls to air traffic controllers, officials said.

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, local civil defence official Gerardo Rojas said.

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 the Merida airport  because the city is so tightly hemmed in by mountains that planes must make steep ascents at takeoff.