CASA plane crashes while descending due to bad weather

The weather was unusually bad, the CASA plane carrying 9 people lost altitude and crashed, Major General Nguyen Quang Dam said.

At 7:00 a.m. on June 17, Major General Nguyen Quang Dam, Commander of the Coast Guard, said that search forces had not yet reached the location of the crashed plane nor found the crew members.

"The initial cause was determined to be due to unusually bad weather, so the group asked to lower altitude and encountered an accident," said General Dam.

At 9:30 p.m. on June 16 at the headquarters of the Ministry of National Defense, Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh met with Chinese Ambassador Hong Xiaoyong, asking the Chinese government to coordinate and create favorable conditions for Vietnamese ships, aircraft and forces to carry out search and rescue operations east of the demarcation line of the Gulf of Tonkin; and at the same time requesting to immediately provide information if any suspicious objects of the aircraft or pilots are discovered.

Thus, the search area has expanded to the east of the Gulf of Tonkin demarcation line.

The location of the CASA plane lost contact about 44 nautical miles from Bach Long Vi island.

On the afternoon of June 16, Lieutenant General Phan Van Giang, Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army, returned to Hai Phong to directly direct the search and rescue work for the CASA aircraft that lost contact with its 9-person crew and the missing Su-30 pilot Tran Quang Khai.

CASA is a modern patrol aircraft.

Lieutenant General Giang chaired an urgent meeting to plan a search and rescue for pilot Tran Quang Khai and the crew on the CASA. Attending the meeting were representatives of the Air Defense - Air Force, Navy, Border Guard Command, Coast Guard, Military Region 3, the Search and Rescue Department and several units of the Ministry of National Defense. The Search and Rescue Command Center was established at the Navy Command in Hai Phong.

At 12:30 on June 16, CASA reconnaissance aircraft numbered 8983 was searching for pilot Tran Quang Khai (43 years old) when it lost contact at coordinates 19o25'40"N-107o19'54"E, about 44 nautical miles south-southwest of Bach Long Vy Island. The aircraft was carrying 6 officers and 3 professional soldiers, piloted by Colonel Le Kiem Toan, Brigade Commander of Air Brigade 918.

The CASA crashed on its way to the location where it discovered an object suspected to be a life jacket belonging to pilot Tran Quang Khai - who went missing on the Su-30 aircraft on June 14.

Minister of National Defense Ngo Xuan Lich chaired a meeting of the Central Military Commission, mobilizing relevant units throughout the military to participate in the search and rescue. The search campaign for CASA and the Su-30 pilot mobilized more than 2,700 people along with hundreds of ships and aircraft from the air defense force, navy, coast guard, military regions 3 and 4, not to mention fishing boats.

According to VNE