Search teams confirmed yesterday there were no survivors from a plane that crashed in southern Cambodia with 22 people aboard, including South Korean and Czech tourists, officials said.
"This is a tragedy no one should have to experience," Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said at a news conference in Kampot Province, where the plane went down on Monday.
The Russian-made An-24 aircraft operated by PMT Air crashed during a storm while flying between Siem Reap -- site of the famed Angkor Wat temple complex -- and Sihanoukville on the southern coast. Searchers found the crash site on a remote and forested mountain early yesterday morning.
"All have died. It is confirmed," Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said.
Sith Sakal, head of security at Cambodia's Secretariat of Civil Aviation, said rescuers retrieved the plane's flight data recorder, which could hold crucial information about the conditions leading to the disaster.
He said the government will send the data recorder to Russia for analysis.
Thirteen South Korean and three Czech tourists were on board, as well as five Cambodian airline employees and a citizen of Uzbekistan, officials said.
All but one of the bodies were found inside the plane, said Tes Vorn, a Cambodian medical staffer of a humanitarian mine-clearing organization who was dropped at the crash site by a helicopter. The body of one male passenger was found outside the plane, Tes Vorn said.
The impact of the crash caused the right wing of the aircraft to break off, he said.
A Russian Embassy spokesman in Phnom Penh, Timur Zevakhin, said the plane's crew chief was Nikolay Pavlenko from Uzbekistan, not a Russian as originally reported by officials.
A helicopter spotted the crash site early yesterday morning after some 1,000 soldiers and police mounted an urgent two-day search by land and air through treacherous jungle in monsoon weather.
The plane's wreckage was high on a forested mountain northeast of Bokor Mountain in Kampot, according to Deputy Governor Khoy Khun Huor, who said he saw the crash site from a helicopter. He said the wreckage did not appear to have been on fire.
PMT Air is a small Cambodia airline that began flights in January from Siem Reap to Sihanoukville, a new domestic route launched by the government to spur the country's tourism industry.
Sar Sareth, the airline's director, said on Tuesday that he did not know what year the crashed plane was built, but added that it was in "good condition" before taking off from Siem Reap on Monday.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
RSS