Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - A London woman is missing after a skydiving plane crashed into the sea just 500 meters from Las Glorias Beach in the tourist resort of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico last Thursday at around 3:40 pm.

Varsha Maisuria, 42, was involved in the crash along with four other people while on holiday on the Bay of Banderas. Ms Maisuria and her instructor, US national Robin Ballachey, are understood to have become entangled with the Cessna 180 aircraft as they left the plane on a tandem skydive.

The pilot and two male passengers survived, but search and rescue teams are still working to find Ms Maisuria and Ms Ballachey. According to the BBC, "the local search and rescue teams who are investigating the crash told the family that the plane had been found at the bottom of the bay under 1,000 meters of water, but there were no signs of Maisuria or her instructor."

Ms Maisuria, a Foreign Office official from Hendon, had been vacationing in Vallarta with a friend, and had signed up for her first-ever skydiving trip before her scheduled return flight on Saturday.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are aware of a British national missing in Mexico and we are providing consular assistance."

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico is an increasingly popular destination among British tourists after the recent introduction of 12-hour direct flights from London. The area has long been popular with American and Canadian vacationers and retirees looking to experience the laid-back, yet world-class, lifestyle it delivers.