Laos, officially
the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast
Asia, bordered by Burma, People's Republic of China, Vietnam, Cambodia and
Thailand. A third of the population of Laos live below the international
poverty line which means living on less than US$1.25 per day. Laos has had a
poor human rights record most particularly dealing with the nation's acts of
genocide being committed towards its Hmong population ~ and Laos is in news for
wrong reasons – as an air force plane carrying 20 people reportedly
crashed. The plane reportedly was carrying
senior Laotian government officials.
Reports suggest that two
major figures in the security apparatus of the authoritarian Laotian government
were killed in the crash: the deputy prime minister, Douangchay Phichit, and
Thongbane Sengaphone, the minister of public security. For a Communist party that relies on force
and intimidation to stay in power, the loss of the two officials who were
considered by many to be the most powerful people in the security apparatus was
a significant blow. The governor of Vientiane province was also killed in the
crash. In addition to serving as deputy prime minister, Mr. Douangchay was also
the defense minister and a member of the Politburo, the highest decision-making
body of the Communist party. Mr. Thongbane, the chief of public security, was
feared in the country and was said to be one of the officials leading a
crackdown against dissent over the past 18 months.
The crackdown included the
disappearance of the most prominent civic leader in the country, Sombath
Somphone, an agriculture specialist who led efforts to liberalize the hermetic
Communist leadership. Mr. Sombath was stopped at a police checkpoint in December
2012 and has not been seen again. The Lao News Agency posted photos on its
website on Saturday showing the mangled wreckage of the plane, an Antonov
AN-74TK300. The news agency, citing a statement from the prime minister’s
office, said that it was a Laotian Air Force aircraft and that it had crashed
in the village of Nadi, west of the Xiangkhouang airport and not far from a
major archaeological site of prehistoric carved stone vessels, the Plain of
Jars. The plane was traveling from the capital, Vientiane, to the mountainous
northeastern province of Xiangkhouang, where the officials were planning to
attend a military ceremony. State television in Laos showed footage of rescue
workers recovering debris from the aircraft, which appeared to have crashed in
a jungle-covered area.
Away from
this, another news attracted me – a news in Daily Mail reports of a new book
claiming that the Malaysian airline MH 370 which was lost - could have been found if airline bosses had
paid just £6 to upgrade tracking software......... as we have been reading, the
search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight is most expensive ever. The search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370
is the most extensive and expensive ever undertaken, but it’s been claimed the
plane could have been located if its tracking software had been upgraded -
something that costs just £6 ($10) per flight. According to new book Flight
MH370: The Mystery, the Boeing 777-200ER had a ‘data package’ that only
transmitted the most basic flight information, so authorities weren’t able to
get a GPS fix on it. For just six pounds, however, this package could have been
improved, the book says, resulting in far more detailed information about the
777's movements being pinged. The book,
by Nigel Cawthorne, says: ‘Along with several other carriers, Malaysia Airlines
had opted for a cheap data package for its aircraft that transmitted only
minimal information rather than pay an additional small fee to transmit
detailed flight data.’
The new publication, which
weighs all the theories about what happened to the flight, highlights a quote
regarding the tracking system obtained by the Daily Telegraph. ‘For US$10, you
could have told within half an hour’s flying time where the plane would have
gone,’ a source told the paper. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak,
meanwhile, has called for real-time tracking of planes and improvements to
their communication systems to prevent a repeat of the 370 tragedy. ‘One of the
most astonishing things about this tragedy is the revelation that an airliner the
size of a Boeing 777 can vanish, almost without a trace. In an age of
smartphones and mobile Internet, real-time tracking of commercial airplanes is
long overdue,’ he said.
The plane which crashed in
Laos is an Antonov An-74, a Soviet/ Ukrainian transport aircraft,
developed by Antonov. It is a variant of the An-72. The An-72 and An-74 get
their nickname, Cheburashka, from the large engine
intake ducts, which resemble the oversized ears of the popular Soviet animated
character of the same name. Cheburashka (which
you see at the start of this post) also known
as Topple in earlier English translations, is a character in children's
literature, from a 1966 story by Soviet writer Eduard Uspensky.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
17th May 2014.
