A search was immediately ordered after an army Cessna 182 light plane disappeared from the radar screen and believed to have crashed.
The four-seat, single-engine light plane took off from Mae Hong Son airport at 10.56 am today on a routine surveillance mission and later disappeared from the radar screen as it was about 20 miles to the north of the airport.
Third Army Region commander Lt-Gen Vichak Siribansop said he ordered a plane to be flown to try to locate the missing plane, adding that the pilot had reported the sighting of smoke billowing from a spot near Ban Huey Poeng, Tambon Huey Pha in Muang district of Mae Hong Son.
A ground search team from the 17th infantry regiment was immediately dispatched to the crash site to search and rescue the four people on board, including one pilot, one assistant pilot and two passengers.
The four officers were identified as Lt Khemarat Duangkaew, Lt Virote Plangkrathok, Lt Naruphol Pookthong and Mst-Sgt Natchanan Khernkaew.