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PHNOM PENH: A plane carrying 22 people between two popular tourist destinations crashed in a mountainous region of southern Cambodia Monday, aviation officials said.
The charter plane left the Angkor temple town of Siem Reap at around 10:00 am (0300 GMT) and vanished off radar screens 37 minutes later, said Keo Sivorn, director of operations at the Cambodian Aviation Secretariat.
It was headed for the southern seaside resort town of Sihanoukville, about 250 kilometres (155 miles) from the capital Phnom Penh, he said.
"The plane has crashed between Bokor Mountain and Kamchay Mountain," Him Sarun, the secretariat's chief of cabinet, told AFP.
"We don't know how many are dead or how many survived," he said.
He said the plane, a Russian-made AN-24, was carrying 13 South Koreans, three Czech nationals and a Russian pilot, along with five Cambodian crew.
Police said the plane probably went down in the coastal province of Kampot, next to Sihanoukville.
Deputy provincial police chief In Chiva said they were looking in the area of Kamchay Mountain after conservationists working there told police they had seen the plane crash.
"The area is heavily forested and the sky is dark (with rain) so it is hard for us to search. We have not found any pieces of the plane yet," he told AFP.
"We have been informed that the plane crashed there but we are not sure."
The plane belongs to PMT Air, which runs flights between Phnom Penh and some provincial capitals. It began flying from Siem Reap to Sihanoukville in January, aviation officials said.
"We cannot find the plane right now, so we cannot say anything," said a PMT official who did not want to be named.
South Koreans make up the largest group of foreign visitors to Cambodia, which recorded about 1.7 million tourist arrivals in 2006 and expects to see the industry continue growing. - AFP/yy
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