Posted on 09/16/2007 4:33:59 AM PDT by Turbopilot
BANGKOK, Thailand - More than 90 percent of the 123 passengers and an unknown number of crew were killed on Sunday when a Thai airliner crashed on the Thai resort island of Phuket, Deputy Governor Vorapot Rajsima said.
"The casualties should be higher than 90 percent. I'm at the airport and the plane is still smoking," he told Channel 9 television.
[...]
Earlier, Angsuwan had told TITV that there was heavy rain when flight OG269 attempted to make a landing.
"The visibility was poor as the pilot attempted to land. He decided to make a go-around but the plane lost balance and crashed. It was torn into two parts," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Ping
the Thai resort island of Phuket
Pronounce that name real fast!
I thought that ninety percent of 123 would be more than thirty. But the headline does say more than thirty. Maybe they use the metric system.
It’s pronounce Poo-ket. Been there many times when I lived in Singapore. Phuket is a big vacation destination for Americans living SE Asia.
Looks like a stretched DC-10. How old would that plane be?
That is not funny !! Don't be a fool.
I have taken the same flight from BKK to Phuket on Thai
Airlines. It is one of the best airlines in the world, and far better then any US flag carrier.
I think the article changed while I was posting it. The original article said 30+ dead also but when I copied it they had changed it to 90%. I didn’t want to change the original title since obviously things were changing by the minute so I left both the title and article as they were when I posted.
I looked at some other articles about the crash and they had the thirty figure in them. Typical of early releases of any disaster news. I didn’t see any mention of survivors. They usually mention something about that also.
Forty-five bodies found at Phuket airport Higher death toll very likely after budget airplane carrying 128 crashlanded
Forty-five dead bodies, most of them foreigners, have been retrieved from wreckage of a One-Two-Go plane at the Phuket airport. The budget airliner exploded and broke in two after it crashlanded and skidded off the runway and crashed into nearby walls on Sunday afternoon. Dozens more are feared dead.
Some reports put the death toll at about 60, but this has yet to be confirmed. The nationalities of those onboard are not immediately known, but Phuket is a highly popular destination for overseas tourists.
A surviving passenger said the plane "landed hard" and "bounced" and then skidded off the runway. Civil aviation official Chiasak Angkauwan said, "the airplane requested to land but due to the weather in Phuket -- strong wind and heavy rain -- maybe the pilot did not see the runway clearly."
"The plane then fell onto the runway and broke into two. It is expected that there will be a lot of casualties."
"We are rescuing people from the aircraft ... we know now there were 123 passengers and five crew," he told the news channel.
"We won't know what really happened until we get information from the black box."
The airliner services Bangkok-Phuket flights six times a week. The ill-fated airline left Don Muang airport at about 2.30pm.
Information now coming in said the plane, which was being used by local budget travel company, One-to-Go Airline, had 123 passengers and five crew.
The aircraft, flight number OG 269, landed at Phuket airport at about 3.40pm from Bangkok and was taxiing along the runway when it went into a slide. Phuket had earlier been hit by heavy rains.
It crashed into trees and walls surrounding the airport.
Eye-witnesses said the impact of the crash caused the plane to break in two and they heard a series of explosions.
Rescue teams and navy personnel were involved in the rescue operation. All flights in and out of the Phuket airport have been cancelled.
http://etna.mcot.net/query.php?nid=31701
PHUKET, Sept 16 (TNA) – An unknown number of passengers were killed and dozens wounded in a commercial airliner crash in Thailand's Andaman Sea resort city of Phuket about 4:00 pm Sunday afternoon.
Acting Airports of Thailand (AoT) director Kalya Pakakrong, supervising the operations at Phuket International Airport, said the passenger jet operated by Thai budget carrier One-Two-Go skidded off a runway at Phuket International Airport during a landing attempt amid heavy rain and strong crosswinds.
The aircraft – identified as an MD 82 model – broke into two section before bursting into flame in the wings and the rear section of the broken aircraft.
Rescue workers carried at least 20 injured persons to both private and public hospitals in Phuket, according to Chaisak Angsuwan, director-general of Thailand's Civil Aviation Department, but at press time no death toll had been announced.
The plane's passenger list included 123 persons plus five crew, many of whom are feared dead.
The cause of the fatal incident is now being investigated, according to Transport Minister Admiral Thira Haocharoen.
All flights from Phuket International Airport have been cancelled, causing confusion and anger among travelers concerned to make connections to other destinations and to know when operations will resume.
Initiially media are not allowed access to the crash site. Only authorised persons including rescue workers and emergency medical personnel from several organisations were permitted. (TNA)
Forty-five bodies found at Phuket airport
Higher death toll very likely after budget airplane carrying 128 crashlanded
Forty-five dead bodies, most of them foreigners, have been retrieved from wreckage of a One-Two-Go plane at the Phuket airport. The budget airliner exploded and broke in two after it crashlanded and skidded off the runway and crashed into nearby walls on Sunday afternoon. Dozens more are feared dead.
Some reports put the death toll at about 60, but this has yet to be confirmed. The nationalities of those onboard are not immediately known, but Phuket is a highly popular destination for overseas tourists.
A surviving passenger said the plane "landed hard" and "bounced" and then skidded off the runway. Civil aviation official Chiasak Angkauwan said, "the airplane requested to land but due to the weather in Phuket -- strong wind and heavy rain -- maybe the pilot did not see the runway clearly."
"The plane then fell onto the runway and broke into two. It is expected that there will be a lot of casualties."
"We are rescuing people from the aircraft ... we know now there were 123 passengers and five crew," he told the news channel.
"We won't know what really happened until we get information from the black box."
The airliner services Bangkok-Phuket flights six times a week. The ill-fated airline left Don Muang airport at about 2.30pm.
Information now coming in said the plane, which was being used by local budget travel company, One-to-Go Airline, had 123 passengers and five crew.
The aircraft, flight number OG 269, landed at Phuket airport at about 3.40pm from Bangkok and was taxiing along the runway when it went into a slide. Phuket had earlier been hit by heavy rains.
It crashed into trees and walls surrounding the airport.
Eye-witnesses said the impact of the crash caused the plane to break in two and they heard a series of explosions.
Rescue teams and navy personnel were involved in the rescue operation. All flights in and out of the Phuket airport have been cancelled.
” It is one of the best airlines in the world, and far better then any US flag carrier. “
That ain’t saying much !
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