BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thai authorities said rescuers used hoes to search muddy forest areas on Friday for wreckage and the bodies of nine people aboard a charter plane that crashed a day earlier and is believed to have been killed.
The Cessna Caravan C208B plane, with five Chinese tourists, including two pilots, and four Thai people on board, crashed 100 kilometers (62 miles) southeast of Bangkok 11 minutes after losing contact with ground control after takeoff.
As authorities rush to investigate the cause, Chonrathy Yongtron, governor of Chachoengsao province, where the crash occurred, said all passengers on board the charter plane were presumed dead.
“We have found a number of bodies,” the governor told reporters late Thursday, adding that the muddy terrain had made search efforts difficult.
“The plane fell vertically, so we have to dig 10 metres (33 feet) into the ground.”
Photos from the scene showed the plane’s wreckage strewn across woodland and swamps, with rescuers digging holes with hoes and using pumps to remove water from some of the debris, while police forensic teams worked to recover and reclaim the bodies.
The plane, flight TFT209 bound for the eastern province of Trat, took off from the capital’s Suvarnabhumi Airport on Thursday afternoon.
The plane, registered to Thai Flying Services Public Company, lost contact with ground control in Bangkok 11 minutes after takeoff, aviation regulators said, local authorities said.
