Airplane crash in Thailand: All nine passengers presumed dead after plane crashed in forest near Bangkok

Bangkok, Thailand
CNN
—

A plane with nine people on board crashed near the Thai capital Bangkok on Thursday, sparking a large-scale search operation in which workers trudged through mud and dug through the dense mangrove cover late into the night.

Two Thai pilots and five Chinese and two Thai passengers on board the Cessna Caravan C208B turboprop aircraft are believed to have died. Authorities are investigating the crash.

According to the Chachoengsao provincial office of the government's public relations department, the small plane took off from Bangkok's main international airport at 2:46 p.m. local time, bound for an airport in the eastern province of Trat.

Contact was lost about ten minutes after the flight began, the office said in a statement.

Residents of Bang Pakong district in Chachoengsao reported seeing the plane fall from the sky and “explode loudly” on impact, with debris damaging surrounding houses.

“I was sitting in front of my house. The plane flew over my house with a loud engine noise. Only seconds later, it crashed right here with a loud bang,” a resident told officials in a video shared by the provincial office.

Soneva Kiri, a luxury resort on the island of Koh Kood, confirmed to CNN in a statement that the two Thai passengers were employed there. The resort's guests usually arrive by private plane to the nearby airport and then take a speedboat to the island.

The resort said it was cooperating fully with authorities in the investigation.

The cause of the crash remains unclear.

Parts of the plane were found scattered in the mud, along with nearly 70 body parts that were taken to a police hospital for identification, the provincial office said.

However, the search was delayed by several hours due to logistical difficulties, it was said. The crash occurred in a mangrove forest where the ground was wet due to flooding from a nearby river.

Photos and videos released by the office show large groups of rescue workers and emergency personnel on the scene wearing headlamps and digging through debris – including suitcases and open bags – as darkness falls. Large excavators dig through mud and mangrove trees, and some workers stand in knee-deep ponds to fish out debris.

The river's flooding made the search even more difficult, as rescue teams had to pump out water and build dams to prevent more water from pouring in, the provincial office said. The search was suspended at 2 a.m. and resumed Friday morning.

The office said authorities would analyze the plane's wreckage to determine the cause of the crash. The plane did not have a flight recorder and communicated directly with air traffic control.

Additional reporting by Associated Press. This story has been updated.