No survivors from Laos plane crash-official
HANOI - A 40-seat Russian-built plane carrying senior military personnel from Vietnam crashed in Laos and all passengers were believed to have been killed, a
Laos government official said on Wednesday.
The official Vietnam News Agency (VNA) quoted a Laos Defence Ministry statement as saying a Russian-made Yak-40 carrying a delegation led by Lieutenant General Dao Trong Lich, chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army, had been missing since Monday.
Details of the plane's route and take-off time given by VNA and the Laos official were the same, although VNA did not say if the plane had actually crashed.
``All aboard the plane, mostly senior military delegates from Vietnam, are believed to be killed,'' the Laos official said by telephone from the Laotian capital Vientiane.
It was unclear how many people were aboard the plane and the Laos official, who declined to be identified, did not have the names of the passengers.
Lich, also one of several vice defence ministers in Vietnam, was leading a military delegation which left Vietnam for neighbouring Laos last Saturday.
The Laos official said the plane left Vientiane on Monday for Xiang Khoang province in the country's north when it flew into a heavy rain storm and crashed in jungle about 300 km (188 miles) north of the capital.
The wreckage was spotted late on Tuesday,added the official.
``A rescue team from Laos flew out of Vientiane on Wednesday morning to retrieve the wreckage and bodies,'' he said.
REUTERS, May 27, 1998.
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