Posthumously awarded medals and promoted ranks to CASA flight crew

The Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defense have decided to give a one-time salary increase to Colonel Le Kiem Toan, Brigade Commander of Brigade 918, and eight officers and soldiers in the CASA-212 flight crew, each member promoted by one rank. President Tran Dai Quang decided to award the First Class Fatherland Protection Medal to each member of the CASA-212 flight crew.

On the morning of June 30, a memorial service for the nine flight crew members was held from 7am to 10am at the Ministry of National Defense Funeral Home (5 Tran Thanh Tong, Hanoi). The memorial service was held from 10am to 11am the same day and cremation was held at Hoan Vu Crematorium (Van Dien, Thanh Tri).

The nine CASA crew members are all soldiers of the 918th Air Brigade.

Currently, the Ministry of National Defense is coordinating with the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs to submit to the Prime Minister to recognize 9 officers and soldiers of the CASA-212 flight crew of Brigade 918 and Colonel Tran Quang Khai, Su-30 pilot, Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff of Regiment 923, Division 371 as martyrs.

"After 10 days of searching, pilot Nguyen Huu Cuong on the Su 30 was rescued, pilot Tran Quang Khai died. Nine members of the CASA-212 crew also died," Senior Lieutenant General Vo Van Tuan, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Vietnam People's Army, confirmed at a press conference on the afternoon of June 24.

Previously on June 27, the search team recovered both black boxes of the CASA 212 plane, number 8983, which crashed in the south-southeast, 26 nautical miles from Bach Long Vi. The two black boxes, including the flight data box and voice recorder, will be decoded to find the cause of the plane crash.

On the afternoon of June 28, the military medical ship HQ 561 carrying the bodies of 8 crew members of the CASA-212 that had an accident in the waters of Bach Long Vy (Hai Phong) docked at the 128 Naval Port. The soldiers who died were transferred by their comrades to the funeral home of the Ministry of National Defense (Hanoi) for a memorial service on the morning of June 30. To date, the search force has found 8 crew members, but one soldier has not been found.

According to VnExpress