Plane crashes into swamp in Thailand with all nine on board believed dead

A small passenger plane on a domestic flight in Thailand crashed on Thursday afternoon shortly after taking off from the country’s main airport in Bangkok, the country’s civil aviation authority has announced.

It appeared that all nine people on board had been killed.

Rescuers found no survivors at the crash site in a mangrove swamp in Chachoengsao province around 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the airport, reported Thai media, which said seven passengers and two pilots had been listed as being on board.

After about an hour of searching, rescuers found badly shattered body parts in the difficult, swampy terrain, said a spokesperson for the provincial government.

The names of those on board were not immediately available.

However, the spokesperson said they included five Chinese tourists from Hong Kong, two Thai female crew and the Thai pilot and co-pilot.

The cause of the crash is not yet known.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand said the turboprop plane, a Cessna Caravan C208B operated by the Thai Flying Service Company, had departed Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport at 2.46pm local time.

Air traffic control lost radio and radar contact with the aircraft 11 minutes later, when it was an estimated 35 kilometres (22 miles) southeast of the airport.

It had been headed to Trat, a coastal province about 275 kilometres (171 miles) southeast of the Thai capital.

Video from the scene showed highly fragmented pieces of the plane in water in the middle of a wooded area.

A rescuer could be seen in muddy water up to his chest.

The Chachoengsao provincial spokesperson said further searches were going slowly because it was already dark and the rising tide had flooded the crash site with more water.