Jet crash in Thailand`s Phuket kills 66

COLLECTED BY:RISHI KAPOOR

A passenger plane heading to one of Thailand`s leading tourist destinations crashed Sunday as it tried to land in heavy rain, splitting in two as it was engulfed in flames, officials said. As many as 66 people were feared dead.

There were 123 mostly foreign passengers and five crew members on the plane, One-To-Go Airlines flight OG269 from Bangkok to Phuket, Thai television station TITV reported.

Survivors described their escape from the airplane`s windows as fires and smoke consumed the plane.

"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 that that 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.

Worapot could not say how many of the dead were foreigners but he said among the dead were Irish, Israeli, Australian and British passengers. He said as many as 27 of the injured were foreigners.

An Irish survivor, identified as Sean, told of being badly burned on his arms, legs and back as he escaped the flames. Speaking to TITV from a local hospital, he said he knew something was wrong even before the flight landed.

"You could tell when it was landing it was in trouble," he said. "It was making a noise, this bang."

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."

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.

The crash is the country`s deadliest aviation accident since Dec. 11, 1998, when 101 people were killed after a Thai Airways crashed while trying to land in heavy rain at Surat Thani, 330 miles south of Bangkok. Forty-five people survived.