ID :
303487
Sat, 10/19/2013 - 13:20
Auther :

Lao PM thanks Thailand for helping in plane crash

BANGKOK, October 19 (TNA) - Lao Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong has thanked his Thai counterpart Yingluck Shinawatra for Thailand's assistance in searching for victims of a Laos Airlines plane crash in the Mekong River earlier this week, as more than 30 bodies have been discovered so far. The Lao prime minister expressed the gratitude on Saturday morning, when the two government leaders joined in offering alms to 3,099 Buddhist monks at a temple in Thailand's northeastern Nong Khai province, bordering Laos, on the occasion of the end of this year's three-month Buddhist Lent, in which a number of Thai and Lao people also participated. It was the first time in the history that government leaders of the two close neighbouring countries participated in such the event and had breakfast together. Yingluck, who is also Thai Defence Minster concurrently, told journalists after the event that she had told her Lao counterpart the Thai government is ready to extend support in the search for bodies of the plane crash victims, including dispatching divers and experts to help verify identities of the air crash victims, five of whom have been confirmed Thai nationals. Yingluck said she had also ordered the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs to contact relatives of the Thai victims who were killed in the plane crash in order to offer help to them. The ill-fated Lao Airlines ATR-72 turboprop plane, carrying a total of 49 passengers and crew members, crashed into the middle of the Mekong River last Wednesday evening while it was en route from Vientiane, Laos' capital, to Pakse Airport in Laos' southern Champasak province. As all people on board the Lao domestic flight were believed dead, more than 30 bodies have been found so far and 20 of them could be verified. (TNA)

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