A passenger airplane crashed Monday enroute from Afghanistan's northern city of Kunduz to capital city of Kabul with 43 on board, Afghan officials said.

The plane has crashed somewhere near Salang Pass between Baghlan and Parwan provinces, Interior Ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said, adding that the ministry is sending a team to proble into the accident.

Meanwhile, Ahmad Javed Basharat, police spokesman of Baghlan province, said the plane crashed south of Salang Pass.

Earlier, Abdul Hamid Khan, head of the Kunduz Airport, told Xinhua that those on board included 38 passengers, eight of whom foreigners, and five crew members.

The aircraft with the local airline Pamir Airways departed from Kunduz at 8:30 local time and has since lost contact, said the official.

Kunduz province has been seeing increasing violence since the start of this year.

Meanwhile, Rahimullah Hamid, general manager of the Pamir Airways, told Xinhua he was on the way to the northern Salang area in a bid to check "an explosion site."

However, he rejected to disclose whether this explosion site was related to the missing plane.

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