All 47 people aboard Lao Airlines flight QV301 are believed to have died when the plane crashed yesterday afternoon, Oct 16, in bad weather, according to state run news agency KPL.

Despite the figure having not yet been officially confirmed by Lao authorities, the Chinese Embassy has confirmed that two Chinese people are among the dead.

Six Australians killed in Laos plane crash

Six Australians were killed when a Lao plane crashed into the Mekong River on Wednesday as it was coming into land in bad weather in southern Laos, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) confirmed on Thursday.

A Lao Airlines airplane crashed into the Mekong River at around 4 p.m. local time. The plane was bound for Pakse, Champassak in Southern Laos from capital Vientiane.

A DFAT spokeswoman said Australian consular officials were in contact with the victims' families, providing consular support.

"Australian consular officials are traveling to Pakse today," the spokeswoman said in a statement on Thursday. "We expect the recovery and identification efforts will recommence at first light. This may take some time."

According to local media, all 44 passengers and five crew were killed. A Sydney family of four, Gavin Rhodes and his families, including two young children, has already been confirmed as on board Lao Airlines flight QV301 from the Lao capital to Pakse on Wednesday.

The others are an Australian aid worker Michael Creighton and his father. Michael Creighton had been an operations manager at Norwegian People's Aid's mine action program, and had been in Laos for almost a year.

Lao officials said 44 passengers and five crew members were aboard flight QV301 from the Lao capital to Pakse.

"Upon preparing to land at Pakse Airport the aircraft ran into extreme bad weather conditions and reportedly crashed into the Mekong River," the Lao government said in a statement.

And an unconfirmed passenger list suggests that more than half of the people aboard were foreign nationals, including those from France, South Korea, the United States, China, Vietnam, Canada and Malaysia.

Source: Xinhuanet