Body of last Thai victim in Laos' air crash sent home

BANGKOK, October 24 (TNA) - The body of the last recovered Thai victim from last week's Lao Airlines plane crash has been sent to Thailand. Prasop Sarasamak, Deputy Public Health Chief of Thailand's northeastern Ubon Ratchathani Province, who is a Thai coordinator on the Lao Airlines domestic flight crash in the Mekong River on October 16, told reporters of the development, saying that the body of the last Thai victim, out of a total of five, was slated to reach Thailand on Thursday afternoon. Prasop acknowledged that relatives have already confirmed the identification of the last recovered body of the Thai victim, Nipol Chaichanakuldee, a 27-year-old male engineer of Bangkok-based PTT Public Company Limitied (PTT). According to the senior Thai health official, PTT has hired a plane to receive the body from Pakse, the capital of Laos' Champasak Province, which was set to arrive in Bangkok by Thursday afternoon. Besides, Korean diplomats have sought approval from Thai authorities for the transport of the bodies of three Korean victims in the same air crash to the Jaeng Temple in Ubon Ratchathani's Mueang district so that the bodies will be then flown to their home country on October 25. It was reported, meanwhile, that Lao officials had found the data recorder, or black box, of the ill-fated ATR plane in the Mekong River. (TNA)