Bodies pulled from Mekong River
Salvage teams still searching for sunken plane in wake of crash that killed all 49 on board
Rescuers in fishing boats pulled bodies from the muddy Mekong River yesterday, as salvage teams struggled to locate a plane that crashed in stormy weather, killing 49 people from 11 countries.
Backpacks, two broken 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.
Yakao Lopangkao, director general of Laos' Department of Civil Aviation, who was at the crash site in Pakse in southern Laos, said they had found nine bodies, but had yet to find the plane. "It is underwater. We're trying to use divers to locate it," he said.
Some of the bodies were found floating downstream by fishermen as far as 20 kilometres from the crash site, he said.
Fleets of small boats and inflatable rafts plied the vast waterway, with men in life vests peering into the water. After storms on Wednesday, the search took place under sunny blue skies.
Thailand, which borders Laos, sent 30 scuba divers to help in the search for bodies. State-run Lao Airlines released an updated list of the 44 passengers' nationalities yesterday. It said they included 16 Laotian nationals, seven French, six Australians, five Thais, three Koreans, two Vietnamese and one person each from Canada, mainland China, Malaysia, Taiwan and the US.
Among the six Australians on board was a family of four: Gavin and Phoumalaysy Rhodes and their two children, a three-year-old girl and a 17-month-old boy.