When
plane crash in Nigeria, believe of many is that they are caused by poor maintenance,
taking risky and even planes used are old. Well, plane crashes are associated
with plane just like accidents in vehicles. A Lao Airlines plane crashed
yesterday (Wednesday), killed dozens of people in Mekong River in southern Laos.
Aljazeera
reported that, A Lao Airlines plane flying in
stormy weather crashed into the Mekong River in southern Laos Wednesday,
killing all 49 people on board, among them nationals of 11 countries including
the United States, the Laotian government said.
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 from the capital, Vientiane, to
Pakse in the country's south.
"Upon preparing to land at
Pakse Airport the aircraft ran into extreme bad weather conditions and was
reportedly crashed into the Mekong River," the ministry said in a
statement.
It said there was no word of
survivors. The airline flies a late-model ATR 72-600 twin-engine turboprop
plane on the 290-mile route.
Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman
Sek Wannamethee said his country's embassy in Vientiane was informed that the
plane crashed 4 to 5 miles from the airport at Pakse, which is near the borders
with both Thailand and Cambodia.
Southern Laos was affected by Typhoon
Nari, which hit the region Tuesday, killing 13 people in the Philippines
and five in Vietnam.
Vestiges of the storm might have
caused the plane to crash, Yakua Lopangka, director general of the Department
of Civil Aviation, told the Vientiane Times newspaper.
The state-run news agency KPL
quoted a witness as saying strong gusts of wind blew the plane off course
before it crashed.
A passenger manifest faxed by
the airline listed 44 passengers: 17 Laotians, seven French, five Australians,
five Thais, three Koreans, two Vietnamese and one person each from Canada,
China, Malaysia, Taiwan and the United States. Korean, French and Thai
officials confirmed the totals for their nationalities.
The Laotian 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."
However, a statement from
Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said, "Lao authorities
have told our embassy in Vientiane they do not expect any survivors."
The Laotian transport ministry
statement said the crash is being investigated and the airline hoped to
announce its findings Thursday.
The aircraft's maker, ATR,
issued a statement from its headquarters in Toulouse, France, declaring that it
will provide full assistance under international aviation rules to the
investigation of the crash, working with the French safety investigation body.
It said the Lao Airlines plane had been delivered from the production line in
March of this year.
May God saves us from all these Plane crashes that are happening all around the World.
May the departed souls rest in peace. Type rest in peace to honoured the lives lost in the plane crash.
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