Loas plane crash kills senior official

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BANGKOK (AP) — A military plane carrying senior Lao government officials crashed Saturday in a wooded
area as it approached an airport in the country’s northeast, killing at least five people, including the
defense minister and other high-ranking members of the authoritarian country’s ruling party.
Lao National Television showed video of the mangled wreckage of the plane, with smoke rising from its
badly charred remains. The footage showed rescuers pulling away pieces of aircraft debris and trying to
dig through the remaining fuselage with shovels, as medical crews stood by watching.
About 18 people were believed to be on board the plane, which left Vientiane, Laos’ capital, early
Saturday morning to bring the group to an official ceremony in Xiangkhoung province, about 470
kilometers (290 miles) away, said Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Sek Wannamethee. Earlier reports had
said about 20 people were on board.
The Ukrainian-made Antonov AN-74TK-300 crashed in Xiangkhoung’s Pek district, where authorities were
"helping to rescue the survivors," according to Lao state news agency KPL, which cited an
announcement from the Prime Minister’s Office. The brief official statement did not say how many people
had died in the crash or survived.
Among those confirmed killed were Defense Minister Douangchay Phichit and his wife, said Nipat Thonglek,
the Thai Defense Ministry’s permanent secretary.
Douangchay was also one of Laos’ deputy prime ministers and a high-ranking member of its Politburo, the
main decision-making body for the nation’s all-powerful Lao People’s Revolutionary Party, which has
ruled the single-party state since 1975.
Others killed in the crash included Minister of Public Security Thongbane Sengaphone, Vientiane Gov.
Sukhan Mahalad and at least one other senior ruling party official, Sek said. He said he was given the
information by authorities in neighboring Laos who did not immediately release details about the other
passengers.
The Lao government is known for its secrecy, and most information about the crash — including the initial
confirmation that it occurred — came from officials in neighboring Thailand.
"The accident happened as the plane was about to land at Xiangkhoung airport," said Sek. The
airport is near one of Laos’ major archaeological sites, the Plain of Jars. Xiangkhoung province borders
northwestern Vietnam.
Authorities were investigating the cause of the crash.
The mountainous, landlocked country of 6.5 million people is one of the poorest in Asia. Its leaders are
among the region’s most secretive, tolerating almost no opposition and maintaining strict control over
the media.
Douangchay as defense minister, and Thongbane as the security chief were both powerful and influential
forces in the country’s security operation. While the precise impact of their deaths was not immediately
clear, analysts viewed their sudden departure as an unexpected blow to the government and the ruling
party.
"It seems inevitable that the deaths of these officials, especially the two ministers, will have an
impact on the power structure of the party and in Laos more generally," said Simon Creak, a
historian of Laos and Southeast Asia at Japan’s Kyoto University. "Especially with the next party
congress, which will select the next generation of leaders, less than two years away."
The plane crash was the second for Laos in less than a year. In October, a Lao Airlines ATR-72 turboprop
crashed during a heavy storm as it approached Pakse Airport in southern Laos, killing all 49 people on
board.

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