Thai tourist plane crash kills 74

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Thai firefighters and rescuers are trying to put out the fire and help passengers out of a plane that crashed while about to land at Phuket International Airport in Phuket, Southern Thailand Sunday. — AP Photo

BANGKOK, Sept 16(AP): A passenger plane filled with foreign tourists crashed Sunday as it tried to land in pouring rain on the island of Phuket, splitting in two and bursting into flames, officials said. At least 74 people were killed in the accident.
The budget One-Two-Go Airlines domestic flight OG269 was carrying 123 passengers and seven crew members to Phuket - one of Thailand's leading tourist destinations - from the capital, Bangkok.
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 at least 74 bodies were laid out in the airport building and 42 people were hospitalised. He said 14 passengers were missing.
Officials at the scene said the McDonnell Douglas MD-82 crashed in a downpour, skidded off the runaway and broke in two.
Officials said it was too early to establish the cause of the crash, but some said weather was likely a factor.
"The visibility was poor as the pilot attempted to land. He decided to make a go-around but the plane lost balance and crashed," said Chaisak Angsuwan, director general of the Air Transport Authority of Thailand. "It was torn into two parts."
Local television reports showed parts of the twisted and smoking wreckage sitting off to the side of the runaway. Masked rescue workers converged on the plane, carrying away bodies wrapped in white sheets.
Distraught relatives arrived at the airport, awaiting news of their loved ones, according to local media.
Jikarat Wongtawan, a staff of Bangkok Phuket Hospital, said that 24 of the 32 passengers hospitalised there were foreigners and included Britons, Germans, Iranians, Israelis and at least one Australian, Irish and Canadian passenger. The remaining injured foreigners were at Phuket International Hospital.
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 before the flight landed.
"You could tell when it was landing it was in trouble," he said. "It was making a noise, this bang."
One-Two-Go is owned by Orient Thai Airways.
The crash is the country's deadliest aviation accident since December 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.