ATR has released more details on the crash of a Lao Airlines ATR 72-600 near Pakse on 16 October that killed all 44 passengers and five crew on board.
The airframer said that in a statement that the aircraft involved, registered as RDPL-34233 and had a serial number of MSN 1071, was delivered new to the airline this March. It was operating flight QV301 between Vientiane and Pakse when the accident happened.
Flightglobal's Ascend Online Fleets database shows that Lao Airlines owns the turboprop.
ATR says that the circumstances of the accident are still being investigated, but noted that official sources at the carrier have said that the aircraft “ran into extreme bad weather conditions” before reportedly crashing into the Mekong River.
ATR and France’s Bureau d’Enquetes et Analysis will assist Laotian aviation authorities with their investigation of the accident, the manufacturer adds.
Ascend shows that the accident is the first involving an ATR 72-600. The last fatal accident involving an ATR aircraft occurred in February 2012, and involved a UTair ATR 72-200 that crashed on take-off from Tyumen in Russia.
The last total loss of an ATR aircraft occurred in February this year, when an ATR 72-500 operated by Alitalia touched down hard and came off the runway at Rome Fiumicino airport.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
