Rescue Mission

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Rescue Teams Search for Missing Plane in Slopy, Mountainous Jungle

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen arrives at Kampot June 26, 2007, where search teams had gathered to look for a plane which went missing one day earlier. 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/Chor Sokunthea

A man holds his child in the forest of Cambodia's Kampot Province June 26, 2007, the area where military officials have been searching for an plane which vanished from radar one day earlier 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 Latif

Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
26/06/2007

The search for a missing commuter plane and its 22 passengers continued Tuesday, through the rain-soaked jungles and mountains of Kampot province where witnesses said it may have crashed.

Prime Minister Hun Sen offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to a crash site and urged the US and Korean embassies to redirect their satellites to help the search. He called on mountain villagers to help in the search but said there was "little hope" anyone had survived.

RCAF Commander-in-Chief Gen. Ke Kim Yan told journalists in Kampot that the Cambodian government was deploying four helicopters and about 1,000 troops to search for the crash site. Rain was slowing down efforts, he said.

The search was focused on the mountainous "100 Boa Constrictors" region of Kampot province, known locally for its high number of serpents and rumored man-eating tigers.

Aviation officials said the plane disappeared from radar in heavy rain five minutes before landing in the coastal town of Sihanoukville Monday morning.

The Russian AN-24 prop plane went missing en route from Siem Reap to Sihanoukville, where a new international airport opened in January. The flight was operated by Phnom Penh-based carrier Progress Multitrade, or PMT, which has a slipshod safety record and is banned for use by UN personnel, the Cambodia Daily reported.

On board were five Cambodian crew and a tour group of 13 South Koreans, as well as three Czechs and a Russian, aviation officials said.

Family members of the missing South Koreans were expected to arrive in Phnom Penh Tuesday evening, an embassy official said.

PMT Air plane crash: The rescue effort and the terrain condition

Members of Cambodia's military rescue team board a helicopter to search for a missing aircraft in Kampot province June 26, 2007. The 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. Officials had found the wreckage of the plane in a remote stretch of dense forest 130 km (80 miles) southwest of the Southeast Asian nation's capital, Phnom Penh. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Ambulances park among dozen of official cars at Sre Liev village where they expect of about 28 kilometers (17 miles) on walk to the site a plane crashed Tuesday, June 26, 2007. Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen said Tuesday a passenger plane that disappeared in southern Cambodia likely crashed during a storm and expressed little hope for survivors among the 22 people aboard, including South Korean and Czech tourists. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A Cambodian man rides his bicycle on the muddy road at Sre Liev village where they expect of about 28 kilometers (17 miles) on walk to the plane crash site Tuesday, June 26, 2007. Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen said Tuesday a passenger plane that disappeared in southern Cambodia likely crashed during a storm and expressed little hope for survivors among the 22 people aboard, including South Korean and Czech tourists. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Search resumed for passenger jet crashed in Cambodia [- Victims family members are flying from South Korea to Cambodia]

SEOUL, June 26 (Yonhap) -- Cambodian rescuers Tuesday resumed their search for a passenger plane believed to have crashed in southern Cambodia with 22 people aboard, including 13 South Koreans, the South Korean embassy in Phnom Penh said.

The Russian-made AN-24 disappeared over a jungle in Kamport Province Monday morning en route to the southern coastal resort of Sihanoukiville from Siem Reap, home to the famous Angkor Wat temple which recently emerged as one of the hottest tourist destinations for South Koreans, according to an embassy spokesman.

Equipped with three helicopters and five ambulances, the rescue team conducted search and rescue operations until late into the night but found no survivors.

Operations resumed early Tuesday, but did not go smoothly due to slippery conditions after heavy rains, the spokesman said.

"Some foreign wire services reported that the wreckage of the plane and four bodies have been found, but the reports have not yet been officially confirmed," South Korea's Ambassador to Cambodia Shin Hyun-suk was quoted as saying by Oh Nak-young, a councilor at the embassy.

Shin is one of the three South Korean diplomats sent to the suspected crash area Monday.

"The rescue team is doing its job and looking at all possibilities, including the possibility that the plane made an emergency landing and that there could be survivors as local villagers said there was no explosion or fire at the crash," Shin said.

Japan's Kyodo News reported Gov. Thach Khorn of Kampot province as saying that helicopters located the crash site in Sre Angkrang, a village of Kampot province's Chhouk District, about 135 kilometers southwest of the Cambodian capital.

It also said local villagers who heard a loud explosion and rushed to the crash site found no survivors.

News reports said the plane belongs to a small Phnom Penh-based Cambodian airliner, PMT Air, which has recorded at least three major accidents or in-flight emergencies over the past two years. Among the 22 people aboard the plane were three Czech tourists, they said.

The South Korean embassy said it is working round the clock to help with rescue operations and plans to send a 17-member volunteer rescue team composed of South Korean residents of Cambodia.

Shin and other Korean diplomats held an overnight meeting with Cambodian government officials to discuss the rescue operations.

Shin had a telephone conversation with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen Monday night to express thanks for his country's speedy cooperation over the accident and asked for his best efforts to rescue any possible survivors.

The Ministry of Construction and Transportation said it would send two government inspectors to the suspected crash site.

Sixteen family members of the missing South Koreans are scheduled to leave for Cambodia Tuesday afternoon to visit the scene of the accident.