Lao Airlines plane crashes into river, killing 49

A Lao Airlines plane crashed today Wednesday October 16th killing all 44 passengers and five crew members on board. The twin-engine turbo plane was on a domestic flight from the capital Vientiane to the airport in the Champasak province in the Southern Asian country when it plunged into the river as it tried to land at Pakse International Airport. Passengers from 11 different countries were in the plane including three South Koreans, seven French, one American, one Chinese, one Taiwanese, one Canadian, five Australians and two Vietnamese.

State-owned Lao Airlines issued a statement saying the small plane ran into "extreme bad weather conditions" and crashed at 4:00pm (local time).

Photo: Locals in Pakse watch as debris from the crashed Lao Airlines twin engine plane washes ashore.