At least 44 people aboard a domestic flight in Laos were killed when the plane crashed in the south, officials in neighbouring Thailand say

Seven of the dead are French nationals, officials in Paris said. Thais, Chinese and South Koreans were also killed

The plane belonging to state-run Lao Airlines came down in the Mekong River on a flight from the capital Vientiane

It crashed in bad weather just before it was due to land at Pakse airport, Lao Airlines said on its Facebook page

It said there was no news of any survivors so far

Half-submerged

Flight QV301 came down about 8km (5 miles) from Pakse airport

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 pictures show a plane half-submerged in the river, AFP news agency reports


UPDATE

Lao Airlines released a statement on its Facebook page stating there were 44 passengers on 5 crew on board. The flight was traveling from Vientiane to Pakse and hit bad weather

The read the full statement click HERE

UPDATE 2

France will send investigators to Laos to aid the probe of a plane crash yesterday that killed all 49 people on board, the most fatal air accident this year

A turboprop plane operated by Lao Airlines, the Southeast Asian country’s national carrier, crashed after experiencing bad weather conditions while preparing to land at Pakse Airport in the south of the country, the airline said in a statement. There was “no news of survivors” after a aircraft packed with mostly foreign tourists plunged at the end of a domestic flight

France is dispatching investigators because the ATR 72-600 turboprop plane is made by Avions de Transport Regional, a venture owned by Airbus SAS parent European Aeronautic, Space and Defense Co. and Italy’s Finmeccanica SpA. Lao Airlines was sending emergency crews to the site of the accident and expects to release its initial findings today, it said in the statement

SOURCE: Sfgate.com