Photos courtesy of EPA
Forty-nine crew members and passengers, including five Thais, were killed recently when a Lao Airlines plane crashed into the Mekong River near Don Khor village in Laos’ Champasak province.
Read the following story to learn more about this tragic accident.
An official from Lao Airlines told the Bangkok Post that five Thais were among the 44 passengers on board when the plane crashed on October 16. They were identified as Yangyong Apaanan, Nipol Mengsee, Kamueng Chartkasamchai, Phakkhawat Atiratanachai and Veekij Busarawuthanu.
In Thailand, a public relations officer for PTT Plc confirmed that two of the Thai victims, Yanyong and Nipol, were working for a subsidiary company under PTT.
They were travelling to work at a PTT site in Pakse, southern Laos. One Lao national working for the company was also on the flight.
CRASH LANDING
According to a statement from Lao Airlines, a state enterprise under the Lao Ministry of Public Works and Transport, the twin-engine turboprop plane was travelling from Vientiane to Pakse. It left at 2:45 pm and was expected to arrive at Pakse International Airport at 3:55 pm. Upon preparations for landing at the airport, the aircraft encountered extremely bad weather conditions and crashed.
“We express our condolences to families, friends, colleagues and relatives for the unexpected turn of events for passengers on Flight QV301,” airline officials said.
DEADLY WEATHER
The director-general of Laos’ Department of Civil Aviation, Yakua Lopangkao, told the Vientiane Times newspaper that the accident may have occurred due to bad weather brought on by Tropical Storm Nari. However, the actual cause of the crash was still under investigation.
Exercises
Read the story. Then, decide whether the following statements are true or false.
1. Investigators were still trying to determine the actual cause of the accident.
…………………………..
2. Yanyong and Nipol were working for a subsidiary company of SCG.
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3. The plane crash killed 49 people in total.
…………………………..
4. The accident happened in the area of Saraburi in Thailand.
…………………………..
Vocabulary
- subsidiary (n): a business company that is owned or controlled by another larger company
turboprop (n): a plane that gets its power from a turbine engine, which produces forward movement by turning a propeller
condolence (n): an expression of sympathy that you show for somebody when a person in their family or that they know well has died
