All nine on board presumed dead after Thai charter plane crashes
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Rescue workers conducting a search and rescue operation to recover the wreckage of a plane after it crashed into a mangrove forest in Chachoengsao province.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
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BANGKOK – Thai rescuers on Aug 23 searched muddy, forested terrain for debris and the remains of nine people aboard a charter flight that crashed the day before, the authorities said, with all the travellers presumed dead.
Five tourists from China and four Thais, including the two pilots, were on the Cessna Caravan C208B aircraft that went down 100km south-east of Bangkok, 11 minutes after losing contact with ground control following take-off.
All aboard the charter plane are presumed dead, said Mr Chonlatee Yongtrong, the governor of the Chachoengsao province, the site of the crash, as the authorities scrambled to investigate the cause.
“We found many human remains,” the governor told reporters late on Aug 22, adding that the muddy terrain made the search efforts more difficult.
“The plane dropped vertically, so we have to dig 10m into the ground.”
Photographs of the site show aircraft debris scattered over a forested, boggy area. Rescue workers are seen using hoes to dig and a pump to extract water from some areas, while police forensic units attempt recovering and reassembling the bodies.
The plane, operating flight TFT209, headed for the eastern province of Trat, had taken off from the Suvarnabhumi Airport in the capital on the afternoon of Aug 22. REUTERS
