(VOVworld) – Rescuers on Thursday started to search for victims of the Lao Airlines plane ATR that plunged into the Mekong river with 49 people on board, 3 of them Vietnamese.The plane crash occurred about 8 km from Pakse airport in Champasak province, a popular tourist destination in Laos.

Rescuers try to find Laos' plane crash victims. Photo: internet

According to Laotian authorities, the flight QV301 took off from the capital Vientiane on Wednesday with passengers from 10 countries and territories including Laos, Thailand, France, Australia, China, Chinese Taipei, USA, Malaysia, Canada, and Vietnam.The director general of the country's Department of Civil Aviation, Yakua Lopangkao, told the Vientiane Times newspaper that the accident may have occurred due to bad weather triggered by tropical storm Nari. The airliner has sent deep condolences to families of the victims. A VOV correspondent in Vientiane quoted Bui Van Tuy, a representative of Vietnamese Consulate in Champasak province, as saying that 3 victims of the plane crash were from an overseas Vietnamese family living Pakse. They were a couple, Le Hue and Vuong Thi Ngan, of Vietnamese nationality, and their daughter Le Thi Trinh, of Laotian nationality. The Vietnamese Consulate in Champasak province has cooperated with the local overseas Vietnamese association to send the condolences to the families of victims.