Copyright 1998 Agence France Presse
Agence France Presse June 01, 1998 05:21
GMT SECTION: International news
LENGTH: 245 words
HEADLINE: Vietnam confirms 14 officers killed in Lao plane crash
BODY: HANOI, June 1 (AFP) - The official Vietnamese press on Monday confirmed that 14 senior Vietnamese military officers died in a Lao military jet crash, including chief of staff Lieutenant General Dao Trong Lich. The Vietnam News said the remains of all 14 were cremated on Saturday in Laos, five days after a Yak-40 military jet crashed into a mountainside in the Plain of Jars on May 25. Five generals and nine colonels and lieutenant colonels died in the crash. A coffin containing the cremated ashes of the Vietnamese was handed over to Vietnam on Sunday, the daily reported. Details of the funeral and burial ceremonies in Hanoi were not immediately available but the foreign press has been barred from attending. According to Lao television, 13 Laotians including some colonels also died in the crash. However a western diplomatic source said a 14th person, an unidentified woman, was also killed in the crash. Cremations of the remains of the Lao passengers were held on Sunday with more scheduled for Monday. The other four Vietnamese generals who died were Lieutenant General Tran Tat Thanh, Commander-in-Chief of Military Zone 2, Major-General Tran Minh Thiet, Deputy Commander-in-Chief and Chief of the General Staff of Military Zone 5, Major-General Vu Xuan Thuy and Major-General Pham Minh Thanh. A western diplomat in Hanoi said the deaths of the military top brass dealt a big blow to Vietnam's military establishment.
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