A military helicopter that went missing on Monday was found crashed on Thursday killing 23 people on board
A military helicopter that went missing on Monday was found crashed on Thursday killing 23 people on board. The Mi-17 helicopter carrying four crewmembers and 19 passengers took off from Vientiane heading to the northern provinces of Xieng Khuang and Huaphan.
According to an announcement issued on Wednesday by the Ministry of National Defence.
The helicopter lost contact with the flight control centre sometime after it took off, the helicopter was reportedly found crashed on Thursday in the jungle on a slope of Phu Bia Mountain in Longchaeng district of Xaysomboun province.
The cause of the accident remains unknown but the source said the extreme weather conditions were a potential cause.
The accident is among a number of air crashes in Laos in recent years.
In May last year, a Lao military plane carrying 17 people on board crashed in northern Xieng Khuang province after leaving Vientiane. That accident killed 14 people immediately at the scene including a number of high-ranking military and government officials. Two others died later during the treatment process.
In 2013, a passenger plane of Lao Airlines, the national flag carrier, crashed and plunged into the Mekong River in the southern province of Champassak after leaving Vientiane. All 49 crew members and passengers including many foreigners on board were killed.
Source: Lao National Television News in English (LNTV)
Broadcast on July 30, 2015
