Rescuers in fishing boats pulled bodies from the muddy Mekong River today 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 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 yesterday.
Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Sek Wannamethee said search teams had recovered the bodies of 15 crash victims by the time their operations ended today because of darkness and the strong current. He said they were unable to immediately identify them. The last official count issued by Laos of bodies retrieved gave a lower number, nine.
Thailand, which lost five nationals in the crash, is deeply involved in the search, providing skilled manpower and technology that its poorer neighbour 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 kilometres (12 miles) from the crash site, he said.
"We have asked villagers and people who live along the river to look for bodies and alert authorities when they see anything," he said.
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 storms yesterday, the search took place under sunny blue skies.
State-run Lao Airlines released a second updated list of the 44 passengers' nationalities today. It said the flight included 16 Lao nationals, seven French, six Australians, five Thais, three Koreans, three Vietnamese and one person each from China, Malaysia, Taiwan and the United States. A person who had been listed as a Canadian was instead added to the list of Vietnamese.
The passengers included foreign tourists and expatriates working in Laos.
Tourism has become a major source of income for Laos in the past decade. In 2012, the country received more than 3.3 million foreign tourists who generated total revenue of more than USD 513 million.
The area where the plane crashed s off the main tourist circuit in Laos but known for its remote Buddhist temples, nature treks and waterfalls.
