All passengers and crew, from nearly a dozen countries, were presumed dead after the turboprop ATR-72 came down in stormy weather on Wednesday, sinking to the bottom of the swollen waters.
As rescuers scoured the river for the submerged plane, a crane perched on a floating platform in the middle of the Mekong was on standby to try to winch up the aircraft.
About 10 boats of varying sizes plied the fast-flowing waters and divers from a Thai rescue team were on the scene to assist.
"It's difficult to dive because there is a strong current and it's dangerous. So I think it's 50/50 that we will find something," said Thai rescue diver Aniwat Plaeng-ngaan, 20.
Crowds of local people, monks and security personnel watched from the banks. Some recounted seeing the plane in trouble before it came down.
"I heard a boom! A sound like a bomb going off. There was smoke and flames before it crashed," said local village chief Buasorn Kornthong, 37.
Some debris was seen floating in the water, while suitcases were wedged in mud on the riverbank and what appeared to be part of a propeller and wing were seen on land.
The flight from the capital Vientiane was carrying 44 passengers and five crew, including 28 foreigners, when it crashed near Pakse airport in Champasak province, according to officials.
"Tragically, we expect there are no survivors," Lao Airlines CEO Somphone Douangdara said in a statement on Thursday, expressing "deepest condolences" to families of the victims.
Most of the bodies were still thought to be trapped in the submerged wreckage, Yamina Benguigui, a French government minister, told AFP after a meeting with the Laos foreign minister in Vientiane.
"The remnants of the plane are at the bottom of the Mekong, nothing has been pulled up. The bodies are still in the aircraft," she said, adding that those found had not yet been identified.
Some of those killed were taken to a Chinese-run mortuary in Pakse town, which is a hub for tourists travelling to more remote areas in southern Laos.
Lines of wooden coffins were visible from the street outside, where a crowd of local people was kept at bay by policemen wearing surgical masks.
A policeman said 10 dead had been recovered and were at the mortuary. Earlier an AFP reporter saw three bodies draped in blue plastic sheets in the building.
Lao Airlines said the aircraft hit "extreme" bad weather while witnesses described seeing the plane buffeted by strong winds.
"The plane was about to land but appeared to be hit by a strong wind, causing its head to ascend and pushing it away from the airport area and out of reach of the air traffic control radar," state-run Laos news agency KPL quoted a witness as saying.
French President Francois Hollande learned of the disaster "with profound emotion and great sadness", his office said in a statement.
'Devastating time'
According to an updated passenger list from the airline, there were 16 Laotians, seven French travellers, six Australians, five Thais, three South Koreans, three Vietnamese, and one national each from the US, Malaysia, China and Taiwan.
It said a Canadian previously listed was in fact Vietnamese.
Australia said a family of four was among its nationals feared dead.
The family of a further two missing Australian men, father and son Gordon and Michael Creighton, issued a statement requesting privacy "at this devastating time".
"We have lost a father, a husband, a son, a brother, a fiancé and a best mate in one tragic circumstance and are trying to come to terms with our loss," they said.
Cambodia's civil aviation office said the pilot was one of its nationals and had "many years" of flying experience.
The QV301 flight set off from Vientiane on time at 2.45pm (0745 GMT) and was supposed to arrive in Pakse just over an hour later.
French-Italian aircraft manufacturer ATR said the twin-engine turboprop aircraft was new and had been delivered in March.
Founded in 1976, Lao Airlines serves domestic airports and destinations in China, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Impoverished Laos, a one-party communist state, has had 29 fatal air accidents since the 1950s, according to the Aviation Safety Network, whose data showed that the country's safety record had improved dramatically in the last decade.
The last fatal air accident was in October 2000 when eight people died after a plane operated by the airline -- then called Lao Aviation -- crashed in remote mountains in the northeast of the country.
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