One-to-Go plane crashes at Phuket Airport

[Guest buaseng]

Phuket plane crash

 

A passenger jet of One-To-Go Airlines with 128 people aboard crashed while landing at Phuket Airport in southern Thailand late Sunday afternoon and rescue workers said the death toll could be high. The plane of the budget airline skidded off the runway after landing and crashed into trees, bursting into fire, said Channel 7 TV.

 

Initial reports estimated that at least 60 passengers died in the fiery accident.

 

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 told TITV that there was heavy rain when flight OG269 of parent Orient Thai Airways traveling from Bangkok to Phuket 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.

 

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 4pm Sunday afternoon.

 

Weather in Phuket has been bad for several days, with thunderstorms and high wind gusts at times.

 

http://www.bangkokpost.net/topstories/tops...s.php?id=121720

 

 

 

 

[Guest wowpow]

Plane crashes in Thailand resort - BBC Breaking News

 

Many people are feared dead after a plane crashed on landing in bad weather at the Thai resort of Phuket, aviation officials say.

The plane, carrying 123 passengers, a number of them foreigners, crashed after hitting the runway heavily in strong winds and heavy rain.

 

The number of casualties is not clear but there are reports of survivors.

 

Flight OG 269, operated by budget airline One-Two-Go, was landing after a journey from the capital, Bangkok.

 

Rescue operations are under way at the airport and doctors are being flown to Phuket to treat the injured.

 

Rescuers said the plane caught fire after crashing.

 

Civil aviation official Chiasak Angkauwan said: "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.

 

"The plane then fell onto the runway and broke into two."

 

One-Two-Go is owned by Orient Thai Airways.

[Gaybutton]

Jet Crash in Thailand's Phuket kills 66

 

By RUNGRAWEE C. PINYORAT, Associated Press Writer

 

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-Two-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.

 

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 told The Associated Press 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 weather played a part in the crash.

 

"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."

 

One-Two-Go 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

 

[Guest]

My sympathies to those that have lost loved ones and friends. I used this airline once and did not have a problem. I was flying into Atlanta recently and the weather was horrible. The pilot made 3 attempts at a landing but did not succeed. We were rerouted to another city for a while till the storm blew over. Naturally, everyone was pissed. But, I am glad the pilot made the decision it was not safe to land there and took us to another state to rest and refuel.