Tegulcigalpa/Sydney - Doctor Jane Connor (29) has been reported missing in Honduras. On Monday night, she boarded a helicopter together with a critically ill patient whom she was accompanying to the nearest hospital.

Shortly after 6pm Honduras time, Dr Connor took off with her patient and a pilot from the town of Cusuna, bound for the hospital in Trojillo, a trip of approximately 45 minutes. An MSF DC3 plane flew to Trojillo the next morning to refuel the helicopter and deliver supplies, but did not find the helicopter on the airstrip. The authorities were alerted. A search along the two main flight routes proved unsuccessful.

Late Wednesday, a pilot of the Venezuelan air force spotted the tail of a helicopter in the sea off the Honduran coast, near the town of Punta Piedra, 12 kilometres from Cusuna. Efforts to recover this aircraft were due to start Thursday morning at daybreak.