A Laos plane crash left at least 44 people dead on Wednesday. The Lao Airlines flight crashed into the Mekong River.
Laos Airlines Flight QV301 was carrying 44 passengers and five crew members as it was flying from the Laotian capital, Vientiane, to the southern Laotian city of Pakse. It never reached its destination. According to a spokesman for Thailand's foreign ministry, Sek Wannamethee, the passengers on board were from Laos, Vietnam, Australia, Canada, China, France, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and the United States., the New York Times reports.
The plane ran into very bad weather conditions as it was trying to land in Pakse. The area is a popular destination for tourists due to the coffee plantations of the Bolaven Plateau and the former royal principality of Champasak.
The aircraft in the incident was an ATR, a French-made turboprop which is used in the area to serve small airports.
"There was turbulent weather during the flight," an airline representative told the Times.
Laos is a poverty stricken land which is is governed by a secretive and insular Communist party.
The airline released a statement about the crash saying, "The President of Lao Airline State Enterprise and on a behalf of all Lao Airlines staffs, we express our condolences to family, friends colleagues, and relatives on the unexpected turn of event for passengers Flight QV301.
Lao Airlines Flight QV301, onboard with 44 passengers and 5 crews is travelling from Vientiane to Pakse on October 16, 2013, leaving at 14.45 local time and expected to arrive at Pakse Airport at 15.55. Upon preparing to land at Pakse Airport the aircraft ran into extreme bad weather conditions and was reportedly crashed into the Mekong River. There were no news of survivors at this time.
Lao Airlines is taking all necessary steps to coordinate and dispatch all resuce units to the accident site in the hope of finding survivors and at the same time informing relative of the passengers.
We are doing our best to investigate the cause of the crash and we hope to disclose findings by Thursday, October 17, 2013. Once again please accept our deepest sympathy to the passengers of flight QV301."
A team of divers will be sent to recover the bodies on Thursday.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
