Onlookers watch the search operation for the lost Lao Airlines plane on the banks of the Mekong River in Pakse, Laos, Oct. 17, 2013.
Officials in Laos announced that 17 bodies have been recovered from the site where a Lao Airlines passenger plane crashed into the Mekong River on Wednesday.
Authorities say the search for the remaining 35 passengers and crew is continuing on Friday.
The Lao Airlines French-made ATR-72 turboprop plane was flying Wednesday from the capital, Vientiane, to the southern town of Pakse when it crashed into the river in southern Laos. The government says it is likely that there are no survivors.
A passenger manifest showed 17 Lao, seven French, five Australians, five Thais, three Koreans, two Vietnamese, and one person each from the United States, Canada, China, Malaysia and Taiwan were on board.
Deadly Lao Airliner Crash Blamed on Bad Weather
1/9A Laotian soldier covers the body of a plane crash victim with a sheet on the bank of the Mekong River in Pakse, Laos, Oct. 18, 2013.
2/9Thai rescuers unload the body of a plane crash victim from a boat in Pakse, Laos, Oct. 18, 2013.
3/9Rescue workers recover the body of a plane crash victim in the Mekong River in Pakse, Laos, Oct. 18, 2013.
4/9Loatian officials unload the body of a plane crash victim upon arrival at a Chinese temple in Pakse, Laos, Oct. 18, 2013.
5/9People look at the debris of a Lao Airlines turboprop plane that crashed into the Mekong River, in Pakse, Laos, Oct. 17, 2013.
6/9Onlookers watch the search operation for the lost Lao Airlines plane on the banks of the Mekong River in Pakse, Laos, Oct. 17, 2013.
7/9Divers search for bodies of victims of a crashed Lao Airlines plane in the Mekong River in Pakse, Laos, Oct. 17, 2013.
8/9A Lao soldier places incense sticks into the ground beside the wreckage left by a Lao Airlines turboprop plane as he pays his respects to the victims of the ill-fated flight, in Pakse, Laos, Oct. 17, 2013.
9/9The remains of one of the victims of the Lao Airlines plane crash lies in a Chinese temple in Pakse, Laos Oct. 17, 2013.
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