Recovery operation underway at Lao Airlines crash site

Recovery operation underway at Lao Airlines crash site

Divers from Thailand have attempted to retrieve bodies of the passengers on the Lao Airlines flight that crashed into Mekong River and killed all 49 on aboard in Laos' Champassak province on Wednesday, the Vientiane Times reported Thursday.

As of Thursday, seven bodies had already been recovered. They are being kept at Vat Chin temple in Pakse district.

Lao Airlines officials told the Times that an investigation into the cause of the accident was currently underway, with preliminary findings expected to be announced soon.

The officials spoke at a press briefing on Thursday during which they confirmed that there were no survivors from the crash, which saw the aircraft breaking up on impact.

Initial reports suggested that the plane from Vientiane encountered a heavy gust of wind as it approached the Pakse International Airport for landing.

Among the passengers killed were five Thai nationals, three of them staff member of PTT plc.

The airline's officials said they will provide all necessary assistance to the friends and relatives of those killed and keep them informed of developments.

They confirmed that the doomed Flight 301 departed Vientiane for Pakse at 2.45pm yesterday, and crashed just over an hour later while approaching Pakse airport for landing. The flight went down into the Mekong near Phaling village in Phonthong district, Champassak province.

According to the flight manifest, there was a total of 49 people onboard, all of whom are thought to have perished in the crash.

On board were two pilots, two flight attendants, one engineer and 44 passengers. There were numerous foreign nationals from some 10 countries on the flight.

The manifest listed those on board as 16 Lao nationals, seven French, six Australians, five Thai, three South Koreans, two Vietnamese, as well as an American, a Canadian, a Chinese national, a Malaysian and one person from Taiwan.

~News courtesy of The Nation~

8 bodies recovered from Mekong, 14 identified

8 bodies recovered from Mekong, 14 identified



A Lao woman, left, is comforted by a Thai woman yesterday at a Chinese temple in Pakse.

Some 38 bodies of victims from the Lao Airlines crash have been retrieved from the Mekong River, which the ill-fated Flight QV301 plunged into last Wednesday.

Fourteen of the bodies have been identified, including the Cambodian captain and three crew members, six Laotian passengers, one Vietnamese, two Australians and a Chinese passenger, according to a statement by Lao Airlines vice president Saleum Tayarath released yesterday.

He said a special team from the airline was working with national and local authorities as well as investigators from the plane manufacturer in France and rescue workers from Thailand.

It remained unclear yesterday whether any of the five Thai passengers of the turbo-prop ATR-72 plane was among the bodies found.

The plane crash occurred near Pakse airport in the southern Laotian province of Champasak.

According to an updated passenger list from the airline, there were 16 Laotians, seven French travellers, six Australians, five Thais, three South Koreans, three Vietnamese, and one national each from the United States, Malaysia, China and Taiwan.

Laotian Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong thanked Thailand yesterday for helping with the search efforts when he met his Thai counterpart Yingluck Shinawatra in Nong Khai. Yingluck also promised "full support" to the ongoing mission to recover bodies of the crash victims and salvage the aircraft. Thai officials would also help Laos in identifying the bodies.

Yingluck said she expressed regret over the incident and that the Laotian leader thanked Thailand for its assistance.

The Thai and Lao leaders were in the northeastern province, which has a bridge connecting to the Laotian capital Vientiane, for a merit-making ceremony at Wat Pho Chai to mark the end of Buddhist Lent.

Jong-Pil Park, from South Korea's national forensic department, said the crash was a huge challenge for impoverished Laos, with damage to the bodies creating further hurdles in identification. "They need to analyse DNA samples, finger prints and dental [records]. They need to solve by cooperating with many countries," he said, adding that it could take up to two weeks to finish conducting the autopsies.

In an updated statement late yesterday, Lao Airlines said some of the bodies had been returned to their families, including the Cambodian pilot, whose body was flown back to Phnom Penh. Teams of French and Thai experts plied the muddy Mekong River with high-tech sonar equipment yesterday, ramping up the search for the remnants of the plane and more than a dozen bodies still missing from the crash.

By yesterday afternoon, 38 bodies have been found and authorities were still trying to identify many of them, said Yakua Lopangkao, director-general of Laos' Department of Civil Aviation.

"We have not been able to locate the plane yet, but the teams from France and Thailand have arrived," Yakua said.

"We have split them into several teams to do simultaneous searches at two or three spots. We believe that one of these spots is where we will find the black box."

A Canadian engineer who specialises in underwater robotics said the strong current in the Mekong could make it almost impossible to lift the plane off the bottom of the river and recover any bodies still inside the wreck. The engineer, who preferred not be named, said the strong current meant as many as six barges and cranes might be needed to lift the plane, if it could be found, and they may need to build a wall at the top end to deflect the fast moving current around the wreck.

The French and Thai teams set out on small boats yesterday to scan the water's surface with sonar equipment. Thai navy divers conducted underwater searches for the flight data and voice recorders.

~News courtesy of The Nation~

Pakse China Commerce Association 百色中国商会

Basic Lao Phrases

Basics

Hello. 

(Sa-bai-Dee.) ສະບາຍດີ

How are you? 

(Sa-bai-Dee Baw?) ສະບາຍດີບໍ່

Fine, thank you. 

(Dee, Kup-Jai.) ດີຂອບໃຈ

What is your name? 

( Jâo Suu Nyang?) ເຈົ້າຊື່ຫຍັງ

My name is ______ . 

( Khàwy Suu _____.) ຂ້ອຍຊື່

Please. 

(Kawlunaa) ກະລຸນາ

Thank you. 

(Khawp Jai)ຂອບໃຈ

It's nothing. 

(Baw Pen Nyang.) ບໍ່ເປັນຫຍັງ

Yes. 

(Maen Leeo") ແມ່ນແລ້ວ

No. 

(Baw)ບໍ່

Excuse me/I'm Sorry. (Begging Pardon) 

(Khǎw Thôht) ຂໍໂທດ

Goodbye and Take Care 

(Sôhk Dee Deuh) ໂຊກດີແດ້

Do you speak English? 

(Jâo Wâo Pháa-Sǎa Ang-git Dai Baw?) ເຈົ້າເວົ້າພາສາອັງກິດໄດ້ບໍ່

I can't speak English very well. 

(Khàwy Wâo Pháa-Sǎa Ang-Kit baw Dai) ຂ້ອຍເວົ້າພາສາອັງກິດບໍ່ໄດ້

I can't speak ____. 

(Khàwy Wâo Pháa-Sǎa ____ Baw Dai.)ຂ້ອຍເວົ້າພາສາ_______ບໍ່ໄດ້

Please speak slowly. 

(Kalunaa, Wâo Sah-Saah)ກະລຸນາເວົ້າຊ້າໆ

Do you understand? 

(Jâo Khào Jai Baw?) ເຈົ້າເຂົ້າໃຈບໍ່

--Yes. I understand. 

(Maen Laeow. Khàwy Khào Jai) ແນ່ນແລ້ວ, ເຂົ້າໃຈ

--No. I don't understand. 

(Baw. Khàwy Baw Khào Jai) ບໍ່ ຂ້ອຍບໍ່ເຂົ້າໃຈ

Where is the bathroom? 

(Hàwng Nâm Yuu Sǎi?) ຫ້ອງ້ຳຢູ່ໃສ

(Ethnicity)I am ____. 

(Khoy Pen Khon ____.) ຂ້ອຍເປັນຄົນ_____

Indochina Bank - Pakse Branch

Laos gives Mekong dam go-ahead

Laos gives Mekong dam go-ahead despite ecologists' fears

Conservationists cried foul yesterday as the Lao government decided to go ahead with the Don Sahong Dam on the Mekong River. The hydropower project, to be built in the Siphandone area of southern Champasak Province, could block the only channel available for dry-season fish migration on the Mekong, thereby threatening the world's largest inland fishery, said a Thailand-based conservationist group.

The run-of-the-river dam will operate year-round and produce 260 megawatts of electricity, mostly for domestic consumption.

In its notification, submitted to the mekong River Commission (MRC) Secretariat on September 30, Lao authorities provided a complete technical feasibility study, including social and environmental impact assessments and a fisheries study for the project, which will be shared with the other MRC member countries - Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam.

Construction work is expected to start in November 2013 and finish by February 2018, with the dam set to begin operating in May 2018.

"Laos submitted the project as an intra-basin water use on the Hou Sahong channel under the process of notification. This will enable the member countries to foresee the project's water use and any impact stemming from this," said Hans Guttman, CEO of the MRC Secretariat.

Notification is a process required by the 1995 mekong Agreement for year-round intra-basin water-use projects and inter-basin diversion projects on the Mekong's tributaries, and for wet-season water use on the mainstream.

Lao Energy Vice Minister Viraphonh Viravong earlier told The Nation that the Don Sahong Dam is too small to cause any serious environmental impact on the mekong River. It would generate electricity only for local consumption in the southern region of the country. "In the Lao language, we call it 'hou' Sahong, meaning we put generators at a hole in the river to get electricity. We don't block the river to create a big reservoir," he said.

However, a group of Thailand-based conservationists yesterday called on Laos to stop the project.

"Laos is once again attempting to evade its responsibilities, while forcing the public in the whole region to pay for the immense damage that the Don Sahong Dam will cause," said Teerapong Pomun of Thailand's Living Rivers Siam Association. "Laos must cancel this project, along with the other mainstream dams, before it's too late."

In a 2007 review of the Don Sahong Dam's environmental impact assessment (EIA) report, the MRC stated that the project was subject to "prior consultation", as the dam is located on the mainstream since its inflow does not comes from a tributary. During an MRC Informal Donors Meeting held in June, 10 international donors, including the European Union, Japan and the US, asked the Lao government to share Don Sahong Dam's EIA report and submit the project for prior consultation.

"If the MRC fails to clamp down on Laos, it will be failing its mandate and will lose any validity they have left as an organisation," said Ame Trandem of the conservationist NGO International Rivers.

In addition to the Don Sahong Dam, 41 projects on the tributaries of the mekong have so far been submitted for the notification process - three in Cambodia, 17 in Laos, two in Thailand and 19 in Vietnam.

The Xayaburi Dam, which is now under construction, is the only one so far to have been proposed on the mainstream and therefore submitted for the prior consultation process.

~News courtesy of The Nation~