Thai rescue teams employed hoes on Friday to sift through the muddy, wooded landscape in search of wreckage and the remains of nine individuals on board a charter flight that met with a crash the previous day, according to authorities. It is believed that all passengers are deceased. The Cessna Caravan C208B aircraft, carrying five Chinese tourists and four Thais, which included the two pilots, plummeted 100km (62 miles) southeast of Bangkok, just 11 minutes after communication with ground control was lost post-takeoff.
Chonlatee Yongtrong, the governor of Chachoengsao province where the crash occurred, stated that all aboard the charter plane are presumed deceased as authorities are urgently trying to determine the cause of the accident. "We have located numerous human remains," the governor informed reporters on Thursday evening, noting that the muddy terrain has made the search efforts challenging. "The aircraft fell vertically, necessitating excavation up to 10m (33 ft) deep."
Images from the scene depict scattered aircraft debris across a forested, swampy region, with rescue personnel using hoes and a pump to remove water from certain areas, while police forensic teams work to collect and piece together the bodies. The plane, which was on flight TFT209 destined for the eastern province of Trat, had departed from Suvarnabhumi airport in the capital on Thursday afternoon. Registered under Thai Flying Service Co Ltd, as per the aviation authority, the aircraft lost contact with ground control in Bangkok 11 minutes after its departure, according to provincial officials.
