BANGKOK, Aug 23— Thai rescuers used hoes to search muddy, forested terrain for debris and the remains of nine people aboard a charter flight that crashed yesterday, 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 100 km southeast of Bangkok, 11 minutes after losing contact with ground control following take-off.
All aboard the charter plane are presumed dead, said Chachoengsao province governor Chonlatee Yongtrong, whose province was the site of the crash, as authorities scramble to investigate the cause.
"We found many human remains," he told the press late yesterday, adding that the muddy terrain complicated the task of searchers.
"The plane dropped vertically, so we have to dig ten metres into the ground," Yongtrong said.
Photographs of the site show aircraft debris scattered over a forested, boggy area, while rescue workers dig with hoes and use a pump to extract water from some areas, while police forensic units seek to recover and reassemble the bodies.
The plane, operating flight TFT209 headed for the eastern province of Trat, had taken off from the Suvarnabhumi airport in the capital yesterday afternoon.
Registered to Thai Flying Service Co Ltd, according to the aviation regulator, the craft lost contact with ground control in Bangkok 11 minutes after take-off.
— Reuters
[caption id="attachment_369511" align="aligncenter" width="1217"]
Rescue workers search the wreckage of a small aircraft a day after it crashed as five tourists from China and four Thais, including the two pilots, all presumed dead, in Bang Pakong, Chachoengsao province, Thailand, on August 23, 2024. — Picture by REUTERS[/caption]
