Thai officials help identify bodies of victims from Laos' plane crash

BANGKOK, October 18 (TNA) - Thai officials are assisting Lao counterparts to identify 49 dead victims from a passenger plane crash in the Mekong River of a Lao Airlines domestic flight earlier this week, nearly 20 of whom have already been retrieved. National Police Chief Police General Adul Saengsingkaew has led a group of Thai identification experts to Pakse, the capital of Laos' Champasak province, where the ill-fated plane plunged into the middle of the Mekong River on Wednesday, to help identify the bodies. The Thai experts acknowledged, however, that the identification is a tough task because there are many corpses which were sunk for a couple of days, and that the strong currents of the Mekong River have obstructed searches for bodies from the air crash. The Royal Thai Navy has, on the other hand, sent officers to advise Lao officials on the salvage of the plane wreck as requested. Meanwhile, updated reports quoted Thai Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt as saying on Friday morning that 17 bodies of the plane crash victims have already been discovered. The Thai transport minister said he has informed his Lao counterpart Sommat Pholsena that Thailand will do the best to help Laos cope with the incident, including the deployment of boats, divers and equipment to locate the plane wreck, as well as the transfer of relevant technical support. (TNA)