Bodies of victims of ill-fated helicopter which crashed in Nan province were retrieved and would be sent back to Bangkok this afternoon.
Three senior officials of Natural Resources and Environment Ministry, plus those of their pilot and a mechanic were killed on Tuesday when their helicopter crashed in Nan's Na Muean district on Wednesday.
Natural Resources and Environment Ministry officials, doctors and police flew by helicopter to the site where the wreckage of the downed chopper was found to carry out forensic examination.
The five victims are the ministry's permanent secretary Saksit Tridej, Sahat Bunyawiwat, adviser to the Royal Household Bureau, Kowit Panyatrong, director of the Office for Response to Royal Initatives, and pilot Maj Jenwit Arunsawat and mechanic L/Cpl Vitoon Yenngeun.
A C-130 transport aircraft will bring the bodies back to Bangkok Wednesday evening for Buddhist rites royally-sponsored by Their Majesties the King and Queen.
Earlier, hundreds of Thai army troops were assigned to search for the missing chopper after it went missing from radar screens and radio contact ceased Tuesday during heavy rainstorms in the mountainous terrain.
The helicopter took off from Phitsanulok province on Tuesday heading to Nan's Chalerm Prakiat district. They were scheduled to preside over a ceremony for a reforestation project.