Five Chinese among dead in small plane crash in Thailand

All nine people on board a small passenger plane are confirmed dead in a crash in Thailand on Thursday evening, the Thai civil aviation authority announced.

Victims include four Thai nationalities and five Chinese, according to the authorities. Local news portals said five Chinese passengers, including two teens aged 12 and 13 respectively, are tourists.

The plane crashed into a mangrove forest in Chachoengsao nearby Bangkok while en route from Suvarnabhumi Airport to Trat Airport. It crashed just 10 minutes after it departed at 2:46 pm on Thursday.

The plane’s black box which is crucial to determine the cause of the crash is not yet found and is believed to be submerged underwater beneath the wreckage.

The aircraft, flight TFT209, a Cessna Caravan C208 with registration HSSKR, operated by Thai Flying Service Co, was carrying five passengers, two flight attendants, and two pilots, according to the Department of Civil Aviation.

One witness reported hearing a loud explosion before the plane crashed into the forest, with debris hitting a nearby house, according to the Nation.

After receiving the crash report at 3:30 pm, local rescue teams arrived at the scene and found the wreckage of the small plane scattered and submerged in mud, with a skid mark about 100 meters long.

The team did not find any bodies of the passengers initially, because the plane had plunged nose-first, embedding itself more than 10 meters deep into the muddy ground.

The rescue team later found a suitcase that belonged to a foreign woman and some baby items. At 7:40 pm, the backhoe unearthed human remains at the crash site, along with various belongings, including suitcases, airplane seats, and passengers’ documents.

The search for the missing victims continued. The Governor of Chachoengsao Province visited the site on Thursday, overseeing the operation to recover the wreckage and deployed backhoes to dig and clear the waterway at the crash site.