A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of seven hit northern Peru early today, cutting power and phone services.

Three foot patrols were hacking there way through Peru’s mountain jungle today in the hunt for an airliner carrying 46 people that disappeared minutes before landing.

A Peruvian airliner carrying 46 people, including eight children, disappeared amid cloud-covered mountains in the Amazon jungle. Heavy rain hampered the search effort.

AIR traffic controllers last night lost contact with a Tans Peru plane carrying 42 passengers plus four crew as it approached a small mountain airport in a northern Peruvian jungle.

An airliner with 42 passengers has disappeared over Peru's Amazon jungle after it lost contact with controllers minutes before its expected landing.