DHAKA: A plane carrying 49 passengers and crew that crashed in southern Laos hit bad weather as it came into land..

Officials in the South East Asian nation said, reports the BBC.

The Laos Airlines plane, flying from the capital Vientiane, crashed into the Mekong river on Wednesday near its destination of Pakse.

All 44 passengers and five crew are believed to have died.

Footage of the scene on Thursday showed divers in the Mekong river, pulling out parts of the wreckage.

The passengers and crew came from a total of 10 nations, the airline said.

Seventeen Laos nationals were on board, plus travellers from France, Australia, Thailand, Vietnam, Canada, China, Malaysia, Taiwan and the US.

BDST: 1456HRS, OCT 17, 2013
RoR/JCK