4 bodies found in plane crash, passengers' nationalities confirmed

 • Four bodies have been found, others are still missing in the airplane crash, Lao Airlines CEO said.

 

 • Lao Airlines CEO briefed the nationalities of the 44 passengers aboard.

 • A special team at Lao Airlines is currently working with investigators to indentify causes of the crash.

A Lao Airlines airplane crashed into the Mekong River at around 4 p.m. local time. The plane was bound for Pakse, Champassak in Southern Laos from capital Vientiane.(Xinhua photo)

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VIENTIANE, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- Four bodies have been found, others are still missing in the airplane crash and all passengers' s nationalities are confirmed, The Lao Airlines CEO said at a press conference on Thursday.

Somphone Douangdara, CEO of Lao Airlines, told the journalists in Vientiane that "The airplane crashed at the approximately time 15:55 local time (0855 GMT on Wednesday). It was the flight QV301 from Vientiane to Pakse Province (south of Laos) near Savanakhet Province and sharing border with Ubonratchathany Province of Thailand. With two pilots, two flight attendants, one mechanic and passengers, totally 44 persons."

"Tragically, there do not appear to be any survivors. Only four bodies have been found while others are still in the water or in the airplane," said the CEO. "A special team at Lao Airlines is currently working, cooperating with the authorities and the investigators from the aircraft manufacturer to indentify the causes of the accidents."

However, a Lao senior government official spoke to Xinhua via telephone while en-route to the crashsite on Wednesday that eight bodies had already been recovered from the wreck. After the press conference, Lao Director General of Civil Aviation Yakua, when interviewed with Xinhua, said eight bodies had been found.

The CEO also briefed the nationalities of the 44 passengers aboard: 17 Lao people, seven French, five Australians, five Thai people, three Koreans, two Vietnamese, and one each from the United States, Malaysia, Canada, China and China's Taiwan.

Flight QV301 from Vientiane crashed into the Mekong at Done Kho Island, approximately two km from its destination at Pakse International Airport in Champassak.

An eyewitness said that the plane was about to land when its nose lifted as if hit by a strong wind, causing it to head away from the airport. The aircraft was soon found totally submerged at a location where road access was impossible.

The plane took off from Vientiane at 2:45 p.m. (0745 GMT) on Wednesday and was due to arrive in Pakse at 3:55 p.m. local time ( 0855 GMT).