At least 5 Thais dead in Laos plane crash: 44 total dead.

[Lite Beer]

44 dead in Laos plane crash: Thai official

BANGKOK, October 16, 2013 (AFP) - A Lao Airlines plane carrying 44 people from the capital Vientiane to the southern town of Pakse crashed killing all on board on Wednesday, a Thai foreign ministry spokesman said.

Laos officials informed Thailand that the plane carrying 39 passengers and five crew went down around eight kilometres (five miles) from the airport in Champasak province in southern Laos, said Thai foreign ministry spokesman Sek Wannamethee.

"I can now confirm, according to our reports, that all 44 people on board have died, including five Thai," he told AFP.

An official at the South Korean embassy in Bangkok told Yonhap news agency that three of their nationals were also among the dead.

Pakse is a hub for tourists travelling to more remote areas in southern Laos.
A Lao Airline official in Vientiane confirmed the crash, but was unable to provide further details of casualties.

She told AFP that the plane had set off from Vientiene on time at 2.45pm (0745 GMT) and was supposed to arrive in Paske just over an hour later.

Thailand's English language Bangkok Post reported that the plane had crashed into the Mekong River in bad weather at it tried to land at Pakse airport.

It said the crash had occurred at 4pm local time (0900 GMT).

Pictures on Thai television showed a small plane, half submerged in the river, with what appeared to be bodies lying on the banks.

A spokesman from aircraft manufacturer ATR in France confirmed the crash and told AFP that the state-owned 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.

An official at the Vietnamese Embassy in Laos told AFP on condition of anonymity that all on board the plane had been killed.

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, according to its website.

It has a chequered safety record.

Eight people died when a plane operated by the airline -- then called Lao Aviation -- crashed in remote mountains in the
northeast of the country in October 2000.

Communist Laos, landlocked between Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and China, is a closed country with a secretive one-party government.

The nation of about seven million people is one of Asia's poorest countries and is highly dependent on foreign donors.

The economy is relatively insulated from global trade and financial networks, though Laos has become a popular tourism destination and mining has played an increasingly important role in growth.

Lao Airline operates domestic flights as well as a limited number of international flights to other regional countries.

The carrier recorded some 900,000 passengers in 2012 and is expected to exceed 1 million people this year, according to a report in the Vientiane Times in March.

It said the country's tourist arrivals reached 3.3 million in 2012, an increase of 22 percent compared to the previous year.


-- (c) Copyright AFP 2013-10-16

[laislica]

What a tragedy RIP and condolences to family, friends and loved ones.

[angiud]

RIP

[lovelaos]

Further info including passenger list and some pics here.

[aussiesteve63]

a sad tragedy R.I.P

[Pib]

Life can be so fleeting. RIP.

[Steely Dan]

I've flown Laos airlines, or is it Laos aviation now after a name change? I did approve of the candor they show by dispensing with any in flight safety demonstration. Whist we waited for more passengers to embark at Luang Prabang one of the ground crew prodded some masking tape on a propeller with a pencil then shrugged. P.S RIP the deceased.

[wilcopops]

One hopes that as quickly as possible there will be a thorough and open investigation that doesn't descend into some face-saving or cover up fiasco. Out of this tragedy is an opportunity for the laos authorities to show that they know what they are doing.

[technologybytes]

You can try and avoid these smaller airlines, but even the bigger airlines have crashes from time to time. It's mostly about luck of the draw.

[butterlimbo]

For a moment I got all concerned that it was the monk who had absconded. He has an airplane, I think.

That was probably what everybody was thinking in the first moment. Not.

[Farma]

the passenger manifest appears to show France 7, Australians 5, Korea 3, Canada 1 plus others from various SEA countries.

[Reggae rancher]

Another sad aviation accident. Condolences to the families and RIP for the victims. I hope the truth about the cause will be found.

[cosmont]

Wow what a tragedy, RIP

[angiud]

I've flown Laos airlines, or is it Laos aviation now after a name change? I did approve of the candor they show by dispensing with any in flight safety demonstration. Whist we waited for more passengers to embark at Luang Prabang one of the ground crew prodded some masking tape on a propeller with a pencil then shrugged. P.S RIP the deceased.

They did the same last week on a Phitsanulok-Bkk Nok air flight with an ATR 72.

My guess is that is a normal procedure

[lovelaos]

RIP to all concerned. Some western passengers on board also. I posted a link before with a list of passengers names, it has since been removed. Just as well I suppose until families have been informed.

[mrdome]

Sad news - I wonder what went wrong?

[Lite Beer]

RT@nikorn_ntv : จำนวนผูเสียชีวิตเครื่ิองบินลาวตกปากเซLao. 17
Aus. 5
Kor. 3
Tha. 5
Fra. 7
Chn. 1
Twn. 1
Can. 1
Mys. 1
Vnm. 2

[lovelaos]

I'm not one to speculate but a severe storm warning/tropical storm was given to us in the office here today around that time. It was very low cloud and heavy rain at the time of the accident.

[butterlimbo]

From that now deleted link the passenger manifest appears to show France 7, Australians 5, Korea 3, Canada 1 plus others from various SEA countries.

... China 1, Laos 17, Malaysia 1, Taiwan 1, Thailand 5, USA 1, Vietnam 2.

[Ajaan]

I've flown Laos airlines, or is it Laos aviation now after a name change? I did approve of the candor they show by dispensing with any in flight safety demonstration. Whist we waited for more passengers to embark at Luang Prabang one of the ground crew prodded some masking tape on a propeller with a pencil then shrugged. P.S RIP the deceased.

I wish people would stop this ridiculous rumor-mongering. I call you on this comment...you are most likely out-and-out LYING. Both about not doing the safety demonstration AND your stupid masking tape comment. In the case of the masking tape, as another poster has pointed out, very likely your general cluelessness has colored your witnessing of a normal procedure for ATR-72s. I can ask my friend, who is a pilot with 10s of thousands of ATR-72 experience, such an expert at them that he (a Cambodian) has trained Thais how to fly them.

I have had nothing but good experiences on Lao Airlines, especially in recent (the past 8 or so) years. And they have not had an accident for a long time. I flew on this exact same flight in the accident, 2 years ago: leaving Vientiane at 2:45 pm for Pakse. The equipment seemed well-kept, and while I'm not a pilot, I'm a very frequent flier and nothing about the operation of the plane struck me as sub-standard. I've also had very good experiences on their Luang Phabang-Vientiane route, which I'll be flying again in December (I'll also be flying Lao Airlines from Bangkok to Luang Phabang then).

Airline accidents are very tragic and unfortunate, and they happen VERY rarely, especially when one considers the thousand and thousands of commercial flights worldwide--including those of Lao Airlines--which reach their destinations safely every day.

RIP to the victims and condolences to those who survive them. You do no good to anybody by spreading your false rumors and unfounded slanderous talk.

[JeezeLooeze]

I was at Pakse Airport 2 weeks ago during a torrential rainstorm waiting for my Lao Airlines flight out to BKK via Suvannaket. The ATR aircraft could take off from Pakse during the heavy rain but none could land. At the transit stop at Suvannaket, three Lao Airlines flights to Pakse were delayed as they could not land at Pakse due to rain low cloud and poor visibilty. My guess is that this doomed flight took a risk or a freak storm event happened during approach.

[Lite Beer]

Phuket News: 44 dead in Laos plane crash: Thai official

BANGKOK: A Lao Airlines plane carrying 44 people from the capital Vientiane to the southern town of Pakse crashed killing all on board on Wednesday, a Thai foreign ministry spokesman said.

The ATR twin-turbo flight QV301 with 44 people on board crashed into the Mekong River as it was coming in to land at the airport in Champassak province in southern Laos. Officials said the accident was caused by bad weather.

The plane left Wattay airport in Vientiane at 2.45pm and crashed at 4pm, the official said.

The crash occurred at Don Khong in Phonethong district near Pakse, reports said.

Laos officials informed Thailand that five Thai passengers were among 39 passengers and five crew on board the flight, said Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Sek Wannamethee.

"We have been informed that all Thai passengers are dead," he said.

A foreign resident of Pakse said in an email message that the scene of the crash was horrendous.

"The Chinese Temple in front of my house has become an emergency centre," he said.

"I saw lifeless bodies laying about and other lifeless bodies being brought in, some connected to IV drips.

"It's complete chaos out front, as emergency vehicles grapple with usual traffic on this pot-holed, muddy stretch of road. Hundreds of people are loitering about, some curious, others presumably concerned for their loved ones.

"It's absolute horror."

Pakse, the capital of Champassak, is the largest city in southern Laos. It is opposite Ubon Ratchathani with the Chong Mek checkpoint in Sirindhorn district connecting the two countries.

The national airline of Laos operates domestic as well as international services to countries such as Cambodia, China, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore. Its main base is the Wattay International Airport in Vientiane.

It operates 14 aircraft, including two ATR 73-600 of the type involved in the crash.

A list of passengers was released by the airline at about 9pm. It described the passengers as five from Thailand, five from Australia, three from Korea, seven from France, one from the US, one from China, one from Taiwan, one from Canada and two from Vietnam.

The five Thais are Yangyong Apaanan, Nipol Mengsee, Kamueng Chartkasamchai, Phakkhawat Atiratanachai and Veekij Busarawutilanu.

The Australians are Gordon Bruce Creighton, Michael Creighton, Phoumalaysy Rhodes, Manfred Gavin and Geoffre Gavin Rhodes.

The Koreans are Lee Hongjig, Lee Jaesang and Lee Gangpil.

The French citizens are Helene Andrew Detable, Guy Henri Vimont, Jean Luc Salelles, Francoise Detable, Dominique Vimont, Patricia Debord and Bruno Debord.

The American is Joel Babcock.

The Chinese is Rui Gan.

The Taiwanese is Chang Yu Liu.

The Canadian is Thilieu Dao.

The Vietnamese are Le Hue and Thigan Voung.

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/44-dead-in-laos-plane-crash-thai-official-42396.php?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

-- Phuket News 2013-10-16

[JeezeLooeze]

RIP to all those named. I presume that next-of-kin had been notified before publishing their names?

[lovelaos]

Do you think it is wise to post the names of passengers on here as it is unlikely family members will have been informed of their loved ones deaths?

Not a nice way to find out is it?

[beautifulthailand99]

Very sad - have always had doubts about flying Laos domestic and this sadly has confirmed them. Here is one of Laos Airways ATR-72's in action.

[peecee]

For a moment I got all concerned that it was the monk who had absconded. He has an airplane, I think.

My condolences to the family and friends of the victims.

To sad for any frivolity I'm afraid.

[Rumblecat]

I've flown Laos airlines, or is it Laos aviation now after a name change? I did approve of the candor they show by dispensing with any in flight safety demonstration. Whist we waited for more passengers to embark at Luang Prabang one of the ground crew prodded some masking tape on a propeller with a pencil then shrugged. P.S RIP the deceased.

I wish people would stop this ridiculous rumor-mongering. I call you on this comment...you are most likely out-and-out LYING. Both about not doing the safety demonstration AND your stupid masking tape comment. In the case of the masking tape, as another poster has pointed out, very likely your general cluelessness has colored your witnessing of a normal procedure for ATR-72s. I can ask my friend, who is a pilot with 10s of thousands of ATR-72 experience, such an expert at them that he (a Cambodian) has trained Thais how to fly them.

So he's not lying about the masking tape then if it's a normal procedure. He saw what he saw. He maybe didn't understand it, but that doesn't mean he's making things up.

[thailandshasse]

What a tradgedy !

My condoleances to the relitives who losed their loved ones !

It,s a tradgedy, for all the Laos people.

Don,t care, who are on board !

Thai or Laos people, or Japanese.

The safety record of the ATR 72 are quite high, and lets wait for the investigation.

Hopefully Laos can handle this.

As we know there are severe weather in the area since many days, whit VERY high wind and wind shear.

And heavy rain, who can bring down a big airliner, if they don,t have high enough, and power setting not on idle.

Lets wait and se.

Rest In Peace.

[peecee]

You can try and avoid these smaller airlines, but even the bigger airlines have crashes from time to time. It's mostly about luck of the draw.

So nothing to do with poor airmanship or shoddy maintenance then?

[ableguy]

I'm not one to speculate but a severe storm warning/tropical storm was given to us in the office here today around that time. It was very low cloud and heavy rain at the time of the accident.

Low cloud heavy rain is really no problem, the entire flight could have. Been made in cloud fling IFR, aircraft malfunction maybe but unlikely, pilot error on VFR maybe, downdraft maybe.

Wait for the investigation best bet.

From a pilot. Or ex pilot.