Attempts to retrieve remaining bodies at Blackhawk crash site continuing

PETCHABURI, July 23 (TNA) - Attempts by Thai army rescue officers to retrieve remaining eight bodies from a Blackhawk helicopter crash site on a mountain in Myanmar, adjacent to Kaeng Krajan National Park in Thailand's upper southern Petchaburi Province along the Thai-Myanmar border, have been continuing amid difficulties.

So far, only one body of all nine demised on board the ill-fated Blackhawk has been recovered from the crash site, as vulnerable weather conditions in the area have heavily obstructed the army rescue operation.

The on-foot Thai army rescue officers, in cooperation with their Myanmar counterparts, successfully detected the Blackhawk wreckage and all the nine decomposed bodies at its crash site on Friday, located some 300 metres from the Thai-Myanmar border and some 200 metres from the site where the other Thai army helicopter crashed in a Kaeng Krajan deep forest last Saturday, killing all five officers on board.

The Blackhawk crashed on the Myanmar soil, just across the common border, during its attempts on Tuesday morning to retrieve the five bodies from last Saturday's crash site in the Kaeng Krajan National Park.

All the nine Blackhawk demised include Major General Tawan Ruangsri, Commander of the 9th Infantry Division, two pilots, six other army officers and a cameraman of the military-supervised TV Channel 5 in Bangkok.

Thai army authorities said they expected the remaining eight bodies could be successfully retrieved from the Blackhawk crash site by Saturday. (TNA)