Learn mandarin - Plane crashes in Thailand, many feared dead

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WORLD / Asia-Pacific

Plane crashes in Thailand, many feared dead

(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-09-16 19:34

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An injured foreign passenger from a plane crash is treated at a hospital
in Phuket, southern Thailand Sunday, September 16, 2007. A passenger
plane with 123 passengers and 5 crew members crashed while attempting to
land at southern Thailand's Phuket airport Sunday afternoon, possibly
leaving some people dead and about 20 hurt, an official said. [AP]

BANGKOK, Thailand - A passenger plane filled with foreign tourists
crashed Sunday as it tried to land in heavy rain on the island of Phuket,
splitting in two as it was engulfed in flames, officials said. At least
66 people were killed.

The budget One-To-Go Airlines was carrying 123 passengers and five crew
members on a domestic flight from the Thai capital of Bangkok to Phuket,
one of the country's major tourist destinations, according to the Thai
television station TITV.

"I saw passengers engulfed in fire as I stepped over them on way out of
the plane," Parinwit Chusaeng, a survivor who suffered minor burns, told
the Nation television channel. "I was afraid that the airplane was going
to explode so I ran away."

Phuket's Deputy Governor Worapot Ratthaseema said at least 66 bodies were
laid out in the airport building.

"At least 66 people have been confirmed and 42 have been hospitalized,"
Worapot said, adding the remaining passengers are missing and presumed to
be still inside the wreckage.

Chaisak Angsuwan, director general of the Air Transport Authority of
Thailand. said the plane crashed in heavy rain and then split in two. It
skidded off the runaway and crashed into a wooded area.

"The visibility was poor as the pilot attempted to land. He decided to
make a go-around but the plane lost balance and crashed," he said. "It
was torn into two parts."

Around half of the passengers were foreigners, most of them European, an
Airports of Thailand official in Bangkok said, and 29 people were known
to have survived, including eight Britons, seven Thais and two
Australians.

Chaisak Chai-arkad, a senior airport official in Bangkok, told Thai radio
the McDonnell Douglas MD-82 plane had broken in two on impact on landing
on the Andaman Sea paradise isle, which was hit by the December 2004
Indian Ocean tsunami.

"The first part of the plane is dug into the ground. The tail section is
stuck on the runway," Chaisak said.

Anchalee Wanitthepphabutr, chief of Phuket's provincial administrative
authority, said on TITV that the plane was in flames. The dead and
injured were being taken from the plane to several hospitals in Phuket,
Anchalee said.

Maj. Gen. Deecha Butnamphet, police chief in Phuket, said on TITV that
"we believe that there are many people who are dead. We are taking the
dead and injured out from the scene."

One-Two-Go, a budget airline, is owned by Orient Thai Airways.

Nong Khaonual, a Thai who survived the crash with his wife, said he
believed the plane had descended too quickly.

"The airplane was landing in heavy rain. It landed too fast. I have never
seen anything like this. It descended very fast," he told Nation
Television in hospital.

"Just before we touched the runway we felt the plane try to lift up, and
it skidded off the runway," he said.

"My wife was half conscious and I dragged her out of the emergency exit.
There was a man behind us and he was on fire."

Another survivor, an Irishman named John, said it was clear there was a
problem before the attempt to land.

"You could tell there was a problem. The plane was flying around trying
to land. It was making some noises and it was bad rain," John, who was
traveling with a friend who also survived, told Thailand's ITV television
channel.

"The plane was on fire, but I managed to get through. I might have come
out on the wing," he said.

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