Children carrying umbrellas walk past a military helicopter sitting in a field in Kampot, Cambodia, June 26, 2007. An aircraft carrying 13 South Koreans, three Czechs and four crew from Cambodia's famed Angkor Wat temples crashed on Monday in jungle-clad mountains in the coastal province of Kampot, officials said. There was no word on survivors. Reuters/ADREES LATIFBy Chor Sokunthea
PHNOM CHAK, Cambodia, June 26 (Reuters) - Bad weather and difficult terrain was hampering the search on Tuesday for 22 people, including 13 Koreans and three Czechs, on a plane that crashed in Cambodia, civil aviation safety chief Keo Sivorn said.
Rescue teams were still looking for the presumed wreckage of the AN-24, which disappeared on Monday after taking off from the famed Angkor Wat temples for the coastal resort of Sihanoukville, he said.
"You can't see each other more than 40 metres away" and the thick clouds were obscuring vision from three helicopters helping search for the plane, which went down in the jungle-clad Kom Chhay mountains in the coastal province of Kampot, he said.
"The search teams are facing lots of obstacles. Until this morning, the rain continued to pour and the hills are very slippery as well as densely forested," Keo Sivorn added.
Prime Minister Hun Sen offered a $5,000 reward for finding the plane.
"Our hope of finding survivors is slim," he said before heading to the southern coastal province of Kampot where the plane vanished.
"I am appealing to all, including farmers, who can help us locate the plane, and offering a reward of $5,000 in hard cash."
Also on board were a Russian captain, two Cambodian co-pilots, a Cambodian engineer and two flight attendants.
"We just still don't know what happened to the plane. The pilot could have managed an emergency landing or could have hit the mountain," Keo Sivorn said.
"We suspect bad weather might be to blame, but nothing can be certain until we find the plane and analyse the black box."
The AN-24, operated by Phnom Penh-based carrier PMT Air, was on a flight from the central town of Siem Reap to Sihanoukville when it disappeared.
Air services between Siem Reap, home to the 800-year-old Angkor Wat temple complex, and Sihanoukville reopened in January 2007 after a prolonged hiatus during Cambodia's civil war.
The resumption of the internal route was touted as another sign of the former French colony's accelerating recovery from the destruction wrought by Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge during their four years in power from 1975 to 1979.
Cambodia attracted more than 1.7 million tourists last year, most of them drawn to Angkor Wat.
Rescue teams were still looking for the presumed wreckage of the AN-24, which disappeared on Monday after taking off from the famed Angkor Wat temples for the coastal resort of Sihanoukville, he said.
"You can't see each other more than 40 metres away" and the thick clouds were obscuring vision from three helicopters helping search for the plane, which went down in the jungle-clad Kom Chhay mountains in the coastal province of Kampot, he said.
"The search teams are facing lots of obstacles. Until this morning, the rain continued to pour and the hills are very slippery as well as densely forested," Keo Sivorn added.
Prime Minister Hun Sen offered a $5,000 reward for finding the plane.
"Our hope of finding survivors is slim," he said before heading to the southern coastal province of Kampot where the plane vanished.
"I am appealing to all, including farmers, who can help us locate the plane, and offering a reward of $5,000 in hard cash."
Also on board were a Russian captain, two Cambodian co-pilots, a Cambodian engineer and two flight attendants.
"We just still don't know what happened to the plane. The pilot could have managed an emergency landing or could have hit the mountain," Keo Sivorn said.
"We suspect bad weather might be to blame, but nothing can be certain until we find the plane and analyse the black box."
The AN-24, operated by Phnom Penh-based carrier PMT Air, was on a flight from the central town of Siem Reap to Sihanoukville when it disappeared.
Air services between Siem Reap, home to the 800-year-old Angkor Wat temple complex, and Sihanoukville reopened in January 2007 after a prolonged hiatus during Cambodia's civil war.
The resumption of the internal route was touted as another sign of the former French colony's accelerating recovery from the destruction wrought by Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge during their four years in power from 1975 to 1979.
Cambodia attracted more than 1.7 million tourists last year, most of them drawn to Angkor Wat.
1 comment:
It is time to ground all outdated Russian airplanes and helicopters otherwise Cambodian tourism will be suffered due to bad publicity because of unsafe air transportation!
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