Laos plane crash leaves dozens dead

An aircraft has crashed into the Mekong river in Laos, killing 39 people.

A Lao Airlines official said the plane had crashed at about 4pm local time near Pakse, Champasak province, which is on the borders of both Thailand and Cambodia.

Thai television showed a photograph of the ATR 72 turboprop plane partly submerged in shallow water on a stretch of the Mekong, the tail severed. Another television channel showed what appeared to be several bodies on the bank of the river.


A television station in neighbouring Thailand said 39 people had been killed.

Lao Airlines is the national carrier of the communist state and has operated since 1976. Its aircraft carried 658,000 passengers last year and it has a fleet of just 14 planes, mostly propeller-driven.

It operates on seven domestic routes and has international flights to China, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore.

theguardian