(VOVworld) – State President Truong Tan Sang and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung have sent messages of condolence to Laotian Party  General Secretary  and State President Chummaly Sayyasone and Prime Minister Thoongsinh Thammavong for a fatal plane crash that occurred on Wednesday. Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh sent a message of sympathy to his counterpart Thongloun Si Soulith. The Vietnamese Embassy in Laos pledged to cooperate with Laos to help the families of the victims and instructed the Vietnamese Consulate in Pakse to assist families of the victims in the province.

Resuers and divers try to find bodies of victims in the plane crash. Photo: AFP

A Lao Airline flight from Vientiane to the southern city of Pakse went down in the Mekong River due to bad weather. The crash killed 49 crew and passengers, including three Vietnamese nationals. The Vietnamese victims were from a family living in Pakse. They were a couple, Le Hue and Vuong Thi Ngan, of Vietnamese nationality, and their daughter Le Thi Trinh, of Laotian nationality.