BANGKOK: Thai rescuers used hoes on Friday to search muddy, forested terrain for debris and the remains of nine people aboard a charter flight that crashed the day before, authorities said, with all the travelers presumed dead.
Five tourists from China and four Thais, including the two pilots, were on the Cessna Caravan C208B aircraft that went down 100 km (62 miles) southeast of Bangkok, 11 minutes after losing contact with ground control following take-off.
All aboard the charter plane are presumed dead, said Chonlatee Yongtrong, the governor of the Chachoengsao province, the site of the crash, as authorities scramble to investigate the cause.
“We found many human remains,” the governor told reporters late on Thursday, adding that the muddy terrain complicated the task of searchers.
“The plane dropped vertically, so we have to dig 10 m (33 ft) into the ground.”
Photographs of the site show aircraft debris scattered over a forested, boggy area, while rescue workers dig with hoes and use a pump to extract water from some areas, while police forensic units seek to recover and reassemble the bodies.
The plane, operating flight TFT209 headed for the eastern province of Trat, had taken off from the Suvarnabhumi airport in the capital on Thursday afternoon.
Registered to Thai Flying Service Co. Ltd, according to the aviation regulator, the craft lost contact with ground control in Bangkok 11 minutes after take-off, provincial officials said.
All presumed dead on Thai charter plane that crashed with five Chinese aboard
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All presumed dead on Thai charter plane that crashed with five Chinese aboard
- Five tourists from China and four Thais, including the two pilots, were on the Cessna Caravan C208B aircraft that went down
- The craft lost contact with ground control in Bangkok 11 minutes after take-off
EU looks to soften energy bill pressures for industry, document shows
- Brussels is looking for quick fixes after companies warned they cannot compete with rivals in China and the US
- The paper said the Commission would look at network charges
BRUSSELS: The European Union is examining energy taxes, network charges and carbon costs as possible areas for short-term measures to ease pressure on industries hit by high energy prices, a document seen by Reuters showed.
Brussels is looking for quick fixes after companies warned they cannot compete with rivals in China and the US — even before this week’s surge in oil and gas prices sparked by the US-Israeli war on Iran. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has pledged to present options for EU leaders to consider at a summit on 19 March.
A Commission paper prepared for a meeting of EU Commissioners on Friday showed the bloc is exploring short-term measures to help the hardest-hit regions and sectors, without undermining longer-term climate laws meant to shift Europe to a cheaper, low-carbon energy system.
“Any proposal for legislative change will not deliver immediately and a bridge solution may be needed to reduce energy prices in the next 2-5 years until the clean transition eases pressure on power prices as already seen in some regions,” said the document, seen by Reuters.
The paper said the Commission would look at network charges — which make up about 18 percent of industrial power bills — and national taxes and levies, as well as carbon costs, which account for around 11 percent of bills.
It noted that governments are underusing existing tools to cut companies’ energy bills, including state aid to offset carbon costs and contracts for difference that guarantee industrial consumers a stable power price. The document said that if energy supplies are disrupted further, Brussels must be ready to introduce measures to encourage consumers to use less energy, as it did in 2022 when Russia slashed gas deliveries.
A Commission spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
