Forty-two passengers that perished in the  Lao Airlines crash on Oct 16 have been identified, Xinhua news agency reported.

Somkiet Vorralath, deputy director of Champassak Provincial Health, said today that officials are waiting for DNA samples from Thailand and Australia to aid the identification process.

Another seven passengers including three French, two Lao and two Australian nationals are yet to be identified.

About two weeks ago, the Lao Airlines flight QV301 crashed into the Mekong River some 7 km from the Pakse International Airport during bad weather, killing all 49 on board.

The twin engine ATR 72-600 plane had recorded only 758 hours of flight since going into service in March.

Lao Civil Aviation Department director-general Yakua Lopangkao said the plane’s blackbox data flight recorders have not been recovered.

The plane’s captain was believed to be an experienced pilot from Cambodia.

- Bernama