Cambodia returns crash victims to South Korea

02/07/2007
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

The bodies of 13 South Koreans killed when their chartered plane crashed earlier this week in Cambodia, have arrived in South Korea.

AFP reports Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen has sent letters of condolence to the bereaved relatives.

Hun Sen had travelled to the coastal town of Kampot near the crash site, located in dense forest on a remote mountain, to oversee recovery operations.

All 22 people, including the 13 Korean tourists, aboard the Russian-made AN-24, died when the plane crashed into the top of Bokor Mountain in bad weather.

Sorrow of the relatives of the South Korean plane crash victims

A woman weeps beside a portrait of two-year-old baby, Cho Yun-min, who was a victim of a plane crash in Cambodia, during a condolence ceremony at a hospital in Seoul June 30, 2007. The bodies of 13 South Koreans, killed when their chartered plane crashed in Cambodia earlier this week, arrived in South Korea. REUTERS/Han Jae-ho

Women cry beside a portrait of a two-year-old baby, Cho Yun-min, who was a victim of a plane crash in Cambodia, during a condolence ceremony at a hospital in Seoul June 30, 2007. The bodies of 13 South Koreans, killed when their chartered plane crashed in Cambodia earlier this week, arrived in South Korea. REUTERS/Han Jae-ho

A woman cries in front of portraits of Cambodia's plane crash victims during a condolence ceremony at a hospital in Seoul June 30, 2007. The bodies of 13 South Koreans killed when their chartered plane crashed earlier this week in Cambodia arrived here. REUTERS/Han Jae-ho

Bodies of S. Korean victims of Cambodian jet crash return home

SEOUL, June 30 (Yonhap) -- The bodies of 13 South Korean tourists killed in a Cambodian plane crash arrived here on Saturday.

Aluminum coffins containing the bodies were accompanied by 23 relatives of the victims as they arrived at the Incheon International Airport at around 7:50 a.m. on a chartered plane flown from the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh.

An elderly woman who lost her daughter, son-in-law, and two grandchildren sobbed uncontrollably and fainted as the bodies were carried by ambulances to a mortuary at a hospital in eastern Seoul.

The dead South Koreans were among 22 passengers killed when a small plane crashed earlier this week in a jungle area in southern Cambodia.

Remains of South Korean plane crash victims return home

South Korean bereaved relatives holding a portrait of Cambodia's plane crash victim walk upon her arrival at the Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, on Saturday June 30, 2007. The bodies of 13 South Koreans killed when their chartered plane crashed earlier this week in Cambodia arrived here. (AP Photo/JUNG Yeon-je, POOL)

ASouth Korean bereaved relatives holding a portrait of Cambodia's plane crash victim walk upon her arrival at the Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, on Saturday June 30, 2007. The bodies of 13 South Koreans killed when their chartered plane crashed earlier this week in Cambodia arrived here. (AP Photo/JUNG Yeon-je, POOL)

A South Korean bereaved relative holding a portrait of Cambodia's plane crash victim walks upon her arrival at the Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, on Saturday June 30, 2007. The bodies of 13 South Koreans killed when their chartered plane crashed earlier this week in Cambodia arrived here. (AP Photo/JUNG Yeon-je, POOL)

Bodies of South Korean Crash Victims Flown Home

Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report form Phnom Penh
29/06/2007

The bodies of 13 South Korean tourists who died in a plane crash Monday were flown back to Korea Friday night.

Family members of the South Koreans arrived earlier this week on flights from Seoul and attended memorial services for the dead on Thursday. The remains were put on a flight late Friday.

The bodies of all five Cambodian crew have been cremated, along with the remains of three Czech travelers, officials said.

The body of a Uzbek crew chief was being stored in a morgue, awaiting the arrival or relatives, the Associated Press reported.

The operator of Flight U4 241, Progress Multitrade, continued running its domestic routes, following the worst air disaster in Cambodia since a Vietnam Airlines flight crashed at Phnom Penh's airport in 1997, killing more than 60.

Flight U4 241 crashed in Cambodia's coastal mountains in heavy rain Monday, on a newly opened domestic route between Siem Reap and Sihanoukville.

An international airport opened in the coastal town in January, and officials hoped the new route would bring more tourists to the beach.

Bodies of South Korean victims of Cambodian plane crash to be sent home

Friday, June 29, 2007
The Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: The bodies of 13 South Korean tourists killed in a Cambodian plane crash were to be flown home Friday, officials said.

The South Koreans were among 22 people who died when the Russian-made An-24 plane crashed Monday in mountainous jungle in southern Cambodia. The others were three Czech tourists, five Cambodian airline employees and an Uzbek crew chief.

A plane carrying the bodies of the Koreans, including 2-year-old and 9-month-old boys, was to leave Cambodia at about 11 p.m. (1600 GMT), said a South Korean Embassy official who asked not to be named because she was not authorized to speak to the media.

The bodies were to be accompanied by 18 relatives who flew to Phnom Penh after hearing of the crash, said Ly Thuch, a senior official at Cambodia's National Committee for Disaster Management.

Nhim Vanda, the committee's vice chairman, said relatives of the Czech victims would take home the ashes of their loved ones, who were cremated at a Buddhist pagoda in Phnom Penh on Thursday.

The body of Nikolay Pavlenko, the plane's crew chief from Uzbekistan, was being stored in a morgue awaiting his relatives.

Rescue teams retrieved all of the bodies from the crash site in Kampot province late Wednesday.

The aircraft, owned by the small Cambodian airline PMT Air, crashed during a storm not long before it was to land in Sihanoukville on the south coast. It had been flying from Siem Reap province, home of the famed Angkor Wat temple complex.

Prime Minister Hun Sen and Tourism Minister Thong Kohn earlier said the crash was caused by bad weather.

But South Korean news reports, citing the country's diplomats in Cambodia, suggested Thursday that pilot error may have been responsible.

PMT Air began flying in January between Siem Reap and Sihanoukville — a route launched by the government to spur tourism.

South Korean aviation safety officials said they plan to inspect aircraft from seven foreign airlines including PMT Air in the coming days.

Altar memorial for South Korean plane crash victims

A South Korean man prepares portraits of plane crash victims at Calmette hospital in Phnom Penh June 28, 2007. Rescue teams found the wreckage of the Antonov AN-24 that was carrying 22 people, including 13 Korean and three Czech tourists, high on a jungle-clad Cambodian mountain on Wednesday. There were no survivors. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

A South Korean man prays in front of portraits of plane crash victims at Calmette hospital in Phnom Penh June 28, 2007. Rescue teams found the wreckage of the Antonov AN-24 that was carrying 22 people, including 13 Korean and three Czech tourists, high on a jungle-clad Cambodian mountain on Wednesday. There were no survivors. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

A South Korean man prays for victims of the charter plane Russian-made AN-24 crash at a hospital in Phnom Penh, 28 June 2007. Relatives of 13 South Koreans killed when their chartered plane crashed earlier this week in Cambodia gathered Thursday to mourn as officials warned the disaster could dent a burgeoning tourism industry.(AFP/Tang Chhin Sothy)