Laos jet crash bodies pulled out of Mekong
Print Edition
Rescuers in fishing boats pulled bodies from the muddy Mekong River yesterday as officials in Laos ruled out finding survivors from a plane that crashed in stormy weather, killing 49 people from 10 countries.
Backpacks, two broken airplane propellers and passports were among the debris scattered on the riverbank where the Lao Airlines turboprop plane left deep skid marks in the ground before disappearing into the water on Wednesday.
Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Sek Wannamethee said search teams had recovered the bodies of 15 crash victims by the time their operations ended yesterday because of the strong current and darkness. He said they were unable to immediately identify them or their nationalities.
Thailand, which lost five nationals, is deeply involved in the search, providing skilled manpower and technology that its poorer neighbor lacks.
Yakao Lopangkao, director-general of Lao’s Department of Civil Aviation, who was at the crash site in Pakse in southern Laos, ruled out finding survivors. “There is no hope,” he said. “The plane appears to have crashed very hard before entering the water.”
He said the plane’s fuselage had not yet been found, but was underwater and divers were trying to locate it. Some of the bodies were found by fishermen floating downstream as far as 20 kilometers from the crash site.
Fleets of small boats and inflatable rafts plied the muddy, vast waterway as part of the search, with men in life vests peering into the water. After Wednesday’s storms, the search took place under sunny skies.
State-run Lao Airlines released an updated list of the 44 passengers’ nationalities yesterday. It said the flight included 16 Lao nationals, seven French, six Australians, five Thais, three Koreans, two Chinese and two Vietnamese and one person each from Canada, Malaysia and the United States. The passengers included foreign tourists and expatriates working in Laos.
The area where the plane crashed is off the main tourist circuit in Laos but known for its remote Buddhist temples, nature treks and waterfalls.
Cambodian authorities revealed that one of the plane’s pilots was a 56-year-old Cambodian with more than 30 years’ flying experience.
Details of the crash remained murky. Lao Airlines said in a statement on Wednesday the plane took off from the capital, Vientiane, and “ran into extreme bad weather conditions” as it prepared to land at Pakse Airport. The crash occurred about 7km from the airport.
The airline said it had yet to determine the cause of the crash of the ATR-72 aircraft, which was delivered in March.
It was the first fatal crash for Laos’ state carrier since 2000, when two separate crashes left 23 people dead.
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