SEORANG RAKYAT MALAYSIA DIKHUATIRI TERBUNUH NAHAS PESAWAT LAO AIRLINES

Rakyat Malaysia dipercayai antara penumpang yang berada di dalam pesawat Lao Airlines yang terhempas ke dalam Sungai Mekong semalam.

Laporan awal menyebut, semua 49 orang di dalam pesawat dikhuatiri terbunuh, termasuk penumpang dari 11 negara. 

Kementerian Kerja Awam dan Pengangkutan Laos berkata, 44 penumpang dan lima anak kapal berada dalam pesawat QV301 yang dalam penerbangan dari ibu negara Laos, Vientiane ke to Pakse di selatan negara itu. 

“Ketika bersiap sedia untuk mendarat di Lapangan Terbang Pakse, pesawat berkenaan menempuh cuara buruk dan dilaporkan terhempas di Sungai Mekong," kata kementerian itu dalam satu kenyataan.

Pesawat jenis ATR 72-600 dengan enjin berkembar turboprop itu terbang dalam laluan sejauh 467 kilometer.

Jurucakap Kementerian Luar Thailand, Sek Wannamethee, berkata Kedutaan Thai di Vientiane sudah dimaklumkan mengenai nahas pesawat berkenaan di lokasi antara 7 hingga 8 kilometer dari lapangan terbang Pakse. 

Senarai penumpang yang dikeluarkan syarikat penerbangan kerajaan itu hari ini mengandungi 44 orang iaitu 17 warga Laos, Perancis (7), Australia (5), Thai (5) Korea (3), Vietnam (2) dan masing-masing seorang warga Kanada, China, Malaysia, Taiwan dan Amerika Syarikat (AS). - AP

Update : Laporan Buletin Utama TV3, kesemua penumpang disahkan maut....

Laporan BBC News : Dozens of people were killed in southern Laos when a plane crashed into the Mekong River.

Foreigners from some 10 countries including seven from France were among the dead, as well as Laotian nationals.

The plane belonging to state-run Lao Airlines crashed in bad weather just before it was due to land at Pakse airport.

A Lao Airlines statement on Facebook gave a total of 49 dead; other earlier reports put the figure at 44.

The statement said there was no news of any survivors so far.

Half-submerged

Flight QV301 from the Laotian capital Vientiane came down about 8km (5 miles) from Pakse airport.

The Lao Airlines statement said there had been 44 passengers and five crew on the crashed plane.

Earlier, Thai foreign ministry spokesman Sek Wannamethee said there were 39 passengers and five crew aboard the plane, citing information from the Thai Embassy in Vientiane.

Thai TV showed a photograph of a plane partly submerged in shallow water, its tail severed, next to a group of rescuers in small boats, Reuters news agency said.

A foreign national living in Pakse told the Bangkok Post by email of chaotic scenes as victims' bodies were brought in.

"The Chinese Temple in front of my house has become an emergency centre," he said.

The crashed plane is believed to be an ATR 72 - a French-Italian manufactured twin-engine plane commonly used by airlines in the region.

Those on board also included five Thai nationals and three South Koreans and as well as citizens from Australia, Canada, China, Malaysia, Taiwan, the USA and Vietnam.

The route between the capital Vientiane and Pakse is popular with the growing numbers of tourists visiting Laos, says BBC South-East Asia correspondent Jonathan Head.

Lao Airlines is small company with just 14 aircraft in its fleet and until now a good safety record, our correspondent adds.