Dozens killed in Laos plane crash

A Lao Airlines plane flying in stormy weather crashed into the Mekong River in southern Laos Wednesday, killing all 49 people on board, among them nationals of 11 countries including the United States, the Laotian government said.

The Ministry of Public Works and Transport, which operates the airline as a state enterprise, said 44 passengers and five crew members were aboard flight QV301 from the capital, Vientiane, to Pakse in the country's south.

"Upon preparing to land at Pakse Airport the aircraft ran into extreme bad weather conditions and was reportedly crashed into the Mekong River," the ministry said in a statement.

It said there was no word of survivors. The airline flies a late-model ATR 72-600 twin-engine turboprop plane on the 290-mile route.

Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Sek Wannamethee said his country's embassy in Vientiane was informed that the plane crashed 4 to 5 miles from the airport at Pakse, which is near the borders with both Thailand and Cambodia.

Southern Laos was affected by Typhoon Nari, which hit the region Tuesday, killing 13 people in the Philippines and five in Vietnam.

Vestiges of the storm might have caused the plane to crash, Yakua Lopangka, director general of the Department of Civil Aviation, told the Vientiane Times newspaper.

The state-run news agency KPL quoted a witness as saying strong gusts of wind blew the plane off course before it crashed.

A passenger manifest faxed by the airline listed 44 passengers: 17 Laotians, seven French, five Australians, five Thais, three Koreans, two Vietnamese and one person each from Canada, China, Malaysia, Taiwan and the United States. Korean, French and Thai officials confirmed the totals for their nationalities.

The Laotian government said the airline "is taking all necessary steps to coordinate and dispatch all rescue units to the accident site in the hope of finding survivors."

However, a statement from Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said, "Lao authorities have told our embassy in Vientiane they do not expect any survivors."

The Laotian transport ministry statement said the crash is being investigated and the airline hoped to announce its findings Thursday.

The aircraft's maker, ATR, issued a statement from its headquarters in Toulouse, France, declaring that it will provide full assistance under international aviation rules to the investigation of the crash, working with the French safety investigation body. It said the Lao Airlines plane had been delivered from the production line in March of this year.

Al Jazeera and wire services