President Truong Tan Sang and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on October 17 conveyed their sympathy to Party General Secretary and President Chummaly Sayyasone and Prime Minister Thoongsinh Thammavong of Laos over a deadly plane crash in the country.
The same day, Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh also sent a message of sympathy to his counterpart Thongloun Si Soulith.
On October 16, a Lao Airline-run plane ATR 72, on the way from the capital city Vientiane to the southern city of Pakse went down in the Mekong River due to bad weather.
The crash killed 49 crew and passengers, including three Vietnamese nationals, according to official sources.-VNA
