 Cambodian rescuers look at the wreckage of the crashed AN-24 charter flight in a jungle in Kampot, 167 kilometers south of the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, Wednesday. / Yonhap |
By Yoon Won-sup
Staff Reporter
The 22 passengers and crew, including 13 South Korean tourists, on a chartered plane that crashed in southern Cambodia on Monday, have been found dead.
The Cambodian government confirmed the deaths, Wednesday, after the plane's wreckage was found on a mountain.
Nuon Sary, deputy police chief of Kampot province, said that the Russian-made AN-24 flying from Siem Reap to the south seemed to have hit the mountain, leaving no survivors, according to AFP.
The location of the crashed plane was identified after a three-day extensive search and rescue operation by both Korean and Cambodian teams. Heavy rain and strong wind at the crash site frustrated search teams.
``We found the crashed plane … on top of Bokor Mountain but we cannot get there now,'' Khov Khun Huor, deputy governor of Kampot, told AFP, adding the aircraft was lying ``in pieces.'' Only a small number of rescuers could reach the crash site due to the bad weather and harsh environment.
The bodies are now being moved to a hospital in Phnom Penh where bereaved family members will be allowed to confirm their identities.
However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it cannot confirm the deaths of the South Koreans until a Korean medical team in Cambodia verifies their fate.
``What we can say at this moment is that all the passengers have been accounted for,'' Cho Hee-yong, the ministry's spokesman, said in Seoul. ``A Korean medical team will make a final confirmation of their deaths though the Cambodian government's initial judgment is there were no survivors.''
Cho confirmed that the plane didn't explode and seemed not to have caught fire as its main fuselage remains whole though it has some serious damage. All bodies but one were found inside the plane.
The crash site, a dense jungle, 167 kilometers south of Phnom Penh was spotted by the crew of a rescue helicopter earlier in the day.
The passenger list includes 13 Korean names along with three Czech tourists. Also on board were a Russian pilot and five Cambodian crew-members.
yoonwonsup@koreatimes.co.kr
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