Chinese among 49 killed in Lao plane crash
Print Edition
A Lao Airlines plane flying in stormy weather crashed into the Mekong River in southern Laos yesterday, killing all 49 people on board, among them nationals of 10 countries, including two from China.
The ATR-72 turboprop plane flying from the Lao capital Vientiane crashed at about 4.10pm just 8 kilometers short of its destination Pakse, which is near the borders of both Thailand and Cambodia.
The Ministry of Public Works and Transport, which operates the airline as a state enterprise, said 44 passengers and five crew members were aboard flight QV301.
“Upon preparing to land at Pakse Airport, the aircraft ran into extreme bad weather conditions and was crashed into the Mekong River,” the ministry said in a statement. It said there was no word of survivors.
The airline said in a statement it had yet to determine the cause of the crash, in which a senior aviation official said the tail end of Typhoon Nari may have been a factor.
A passenger manifest faxed by the airline listed 44 people: 17 Lao, seven French, five Australians, five Thais, three Koreans, two Chinese and two Vietnamese and one person each from Canada, Malaysia and the United States. Chinese, South Korean, French and Thai officials confirmed the totals for their nationalities.
The Lao government said the airline “is taking all necessary steps to coordinate and dispatch all rescue units to the accident site in the hope of finding survivors.” It said the crash is being investigated and the airline hoped to announce its findings today.
Southern Laos was affected by Typhoon Nari, which hit the region on Tuesday killing 13 people in the Philippines and five in Vietnam.
Vestiges of the storm might have cause the plane to crash, Yakua Lopangka, director general of the Department of Civil Aviation, said.
Thai television showed a photograph of the plane partly submerged in shallow water on a stretch of the Mekong, the tail severed, next to a handful of rescuers in small boats.
Lao Airlines is the national carrier and has operated since 1976. Its aircraft carried 658,000 passengers last year and it has a fleet of just 14 planes, mostly propeller-driven.
A spokesman from aircraft manufacturer ATR in France said that the Lao Airlines flight was one of its twin-engine turboprop ATR-72 planes. He said Lao Airlines has a fleet of six ATR-72 planes.
Founded in 1976, the carrier operates a fleet of ATR-72 turboprop, Airbus A320 and Chinese-made MA60 planes, serving domestic airports and destinations in China, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
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