Rescue workers search the wreckage of a small plane in Thailand’s Chachoengsao province on August 23, 2024, a day after the crash. Authorities said all nine people on board were presumed dead. – Rescue workers searched the Thai jungle for nine people missing on August 23 after a turboprop plane crashed southeast of the capital Bangkok. Authorities did not expect any survivors. (Photo by Sarot Meksophawannakul / THAI NEWS PIX / Agence France-Presse)

BANGKOK – Rescue workers searched for nine missing people in the Thai jungle on Friday after a turboprop plane crashed southeast of the capital Bangkok. Authorities, however, did not expect any survivors.

The plane crashed in the jungles of Chachoengsao province on Thursday, August 22, and all aboard are presumed dead, Thai officials said.

Nine people – including two pilots and seven passengers – were en route from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport to Trat province, an area on the Gulf of Thailand known for its beaches, when the plane crashed.

“It happened at about 3:10 p.m. (08:10 GMT). We are trying to find the missing people, but we believe they are all dead,” Chachoengsao Governor Chonlatee Yangtrong told reporters at the scene on Thursday.

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According to local media, the passengers included four Thais and five Chinese, including two children aged 12 and 13.

More than 300 military personnel and volunteers have been deployed to the search and authorities have launched an investigation to determine the cause of the crash.

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Authorities said they had found some body parts and parts of the plane.

But heavy rain makes the search difficult.

“We don’t plan to stop until we find them, although there are some flooded areas,” Chonlatee said.