A flight recorder believed to have been stolen by villagers after the crash of a Vietnam Airlines plane this week was returned Friday following appeals on radio and television stations.
Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said a peasant family who lives near the crash site came forward with the "black box," which may help explain Wednesday's disaster, in which at least 65 people died. The family delivered the black box to the TVK television station and received a reward."The station made a call to the authorities, and it is now in our possession," Khieu Kanharith said. "We are very happy."
Vietnam Embassy officials confirmed that a Vietnamese boy, identified as Vu Hung Thinh, about 4 years old, who was shuttled between hospitals with head injuries after the crash, was believed to be the second-known survivor.
A 1-year-old Thai boy, Chanayuth Nim-Anong, also lived through the crash in a stretch of rice paddies about a half-mile south of Pochentong International Airport. The boy, whose mother was killed, returned Thursday to Bangkok with his father, who had been awaiting the ill-fated Soviet-built Tupolev 134 when it slammed into the trees.