No survivors in Cambodian air crash

The wreckage was discovered by a helicopter about 50 kilometres from its destination.

 

The aircraft’s two “black box” flight data recorders have also been recovered.

 

The aircraft operated by Progress Multi Transportation (PMT) Air dropped off the radar five minutes before it was due to land at Sihanoukville on Cambodia’s southern coast.

 

 

The aircraft was flying from Siem Reap to the coastal resort of Sihanoukville [AP]

The aircraft was flying from Siem Reap, site of the famed Angkor Wat temple complex.

 

A helicopter first spotted the crash site early on Wednesday morning after some 1,000 soldiers and police mounted an intensive two-day land and air search through thick jungle in rainy monsoon weather.

 

Khoy Khun Huor, the provincial deputy governor, said the wreckage was high on a forested mountain northeast of Bokor Mountain in Kampot province.

 

“The immediate step to be taken is to clear some forest for access. Helicopters now cannot land close to it,” he said.

 

 

On Tuesday more than a dozen family members of some of the South Korean passengers arrived in Phnom Penh from Seoul hoping for news about their relatives.

 

Ly Thuch, a disaster management official, said the Cambodian government will pay for their accommodation while they are in the country.

 

PMT Air is a small Cambodia airline that began flights in January from Siem Reap to Sihanoukville, a new domestic route launched by the government to spur the country’s burgeoning tourism industry.

 

It has had at least three accidents or in-flight emergencies in the past two years, and was temporarily grounded at one point.

 

Sar Sareth, the airline’s director, said on Tuesday he did not know what year the crashed aircraft was built, but added it was in “good condition” before taking off from Siem Reap.

 

“It was always in compliance with flight technical and safety procedures,” he said. “But we cannot say anything yet [about the cause] because information is on the flight recorder.”