An airplane carrying several Lao government officials crashed Saturday morning, killing at least five people including the Southeast Asian country's chief defense minister.
The airplane took off from the Lao capital Vientiane with nearly 20 people aboard when it crashed at around 6:15 a.m., Reuters reported. The Laos officials were on their way to a ceremony in the northeast.
"A Laos air force plane has crashed on its way to Xiang Khouang province in the north of the country," a government official told Reuters. "The mayor of Vientiane, the defense minister of Laos and his wife were on board."
The victims include Defense Minister Douangchay Phichit and his wife, Permanent Secretary to the Thai defense ministry Nipat Thonglek told the Associated Press.
The other victim has been confirmed as Thongbane Sengaphone, the minister of public security, Lao diplomats told The New York Times. The governor of Vientiane province, Sukhan Mahalad, also died in the crash. The identity of the last victim was not immediately known.
Douangchay was one of the country's deputy prime ministers, the AP reported. He was also a key member of the Politburo, the highest decision-making body for the ruling Communist party.
Thongbane was said to rule with fear and was in charge of a campaign to subdue dissenting opinions in the country, The NY Times reported. One of the country's top civic leaders, Sombath Somphone, disappeared as a result of the campaign in December 2012. Somphone was a driving force behind loosening the communist party's power.
Footage from a Laos TV station showed rescue teams removing wreckage from the plane in the forested area.
"The cause of the plane crash is still unknown," a news presenter said according to The NY Times.
Another deadly plane crash occurred less than a year ago in southern Laos. All 49 people aboard a Lao Airlines flight were killed when the plane crashed in a severe storm near Pakse Airport, the AP reported.
