PHUKET CRASH TOLL RISES TO 90
Bangkok Post
A One-Two-Go Airlines passenger jet with 130 people aboard crashed and burned while landing at Phuket Airport in foul weather Sunday afternoon. The death toll rose to 90 on Monday with confirmation that both the pilot and co-pilot died.
There were at least 42 survivors, including 11 Thais, six Irish nationals, six Britons, three Australians, three Iranians, two Swedes, one German and a Dutch national. They were admitted to various Phuket hospitals.
“Five are in critical condition. Some have burns to 60 percent of their body,” Bangkok Phuket hospital coordinator Piyannooch Anantakdee told the Reuters news agency.
The pilot and co-pilot were said to be among the survivors, leading to a statement by Phuket deputy governor Vorapot Rajsima that 88 people were confirmed dead. On Monday, the airline said both cockpit crew had died along with most of the passengers in the front part of the MD-82, a twin-engined jet evolution of the popular DC9 workhorse.
“Nearly half the passengers were foreign tourists,” said one survivor, Nong Khaonuan. In a TV interview, he said. “I’ve flown on many airplanes before and I can say there was something strange about our landing. We seemed to drop down too fast.”
There was hope that many survived after TiTV showed two foreigners being carried away to local hospital. But the fire that ripped through the crashed aircraft apparently claimed dozens of lives.
The MD82 plane of the budget airline skidded off the runway after landing on a flight from Don Muang airport in Bangkok, and crashed into trees, bursting into fire.
“The fire was throughout the airplane,” said Phuket Deputy Governor Worraphot Ratsrimaa. “We expect that at least 90 per cent of the passengers died.”
“The plane was landing and slid off the runway. We are rescuing people and carrying injured people to hospitals,” said Pol Lt Sokchai Limcharoen, a police officer in the area in an early report.
Chaisak Angsuwan, director general of the Air Transport Authority of Thailand said the aircraft broke in two as it attempted to land at Phuket airport in bad weather.
Chaisak said that there was heavy rain when flight OG269 of parent Orient Thai Airways traveling from Bangkok’s Don Muang airport to Phuket attempted to make a landing. Planes in both Orient Thai and One-Two-Go livery use the OG flight identifier.
“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. “The plane then fell onto the runway and broke into two. It is expected that there will be deaths.
“The airplane asked to land but due to the weather in Phuket -strong wind and heavy rain -maybe the pilot did not see the runway clearly,” said Chaisak.
Witnesses said the airline was using its usual MD-82 twin-engine passenger jet aircraft, a model of the McDonnell-Douglas DC9. One-Two-Go owned seven such planes, which it used for frequent flights around Thailand, including six each day from Bangkok to Phuket and return.
Airport officials and rescue workers are still working to help the victims from the plane which caught fire after it crashlanded and skidded off the runway.
Authorities said there were 123 passengers and five crew members on board when the plane crashed at about 3:35pm Sunday afternoon.
Weather in Phuket has been bad for several days, with thunderstorms and high wind gusts at times.
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