THAILAND: Thai rescuers retrieve last bodies from plane wreck in Phuket

Thai rescue workers drag the last bodies from the charred wreckage of a budget airliner that crashed while trying to land in a fierce monsoon storm on the resort island of Phuket. Death toll so far is placed at 89. Thai rescue workers dragged the last bodies on Monday (September 17) from the charred wreckage of a budget airliner that crashed while trying to land in a storm in the resort island of Phuket, killing 89 people. Having recovered the flight data recorders, investigators were sifting through the gutted fuselage for clues as to why the McDonnell Douglas MD-82 veered off the runway before smashing into a wooded embankment and bursting into flames on Sunday (September 16). In a makeshift morgue at the airport, row upon row of body bags were laid out for relatives to identify loved ones. Canadian tourist Millie Furlong, 23, one of the 42 survivors recovering in hospital, spoke about her horrific experience and her lucky escape. "The flames went back and then we felt the air behind us and they kicked the window so we got up and we went out the window after a few people went out," Furlong told Reuters Television. Officials say the final death toll was 34 Thais and 55 foreigners, many of them European holidaymakers who have come to one of Thailand's best holiday destinations. Hospital officials say five survivors were in critical condition, with burns to 60 percent of their bodies. The Indonesian captain and his Thai co-pilot were both killed. Relatives were still unaware of whether the carrier, airline One-Two-Go, would provide them with any compensation. "I don't know about compensation. We are waiting to hear how One-Two-Go will help us," said, Thanachai Chaisangtao, the brother-in-law of a British passenger who died on the doomed flight. Visiting relatives of passengers at Bangkok airport, Thai Prime Minister Surayud Chulanot says the government was doing its best to handle the tragedy which is sure to raise more safety questions about the dozens of budget carriers that have sprung up across Asia in the last decade. Emergency workers were quick to retrieve the "black box" flight data recorder. Much of the crash investigation is likely to focus on the weather as the plane was coming in to land. The Bangkok Post newspaper quoted a senior aviation official as saying the pilot told the control tower he was aborting the landing because he could not see the runway. Survivors had spoken of torrential rain and trees bent over in the wind. Udom Tantiprasongchai, chairman of One-Two-Go parent company Orient Thai Airlines, said the pilot was experienced. The coastal airstrip, known to be tricky for landing even without Sunday's driving rain and wind, reopened to commercial flights on Monday, shortly after a government plane carrying Surayud was allowed to land. Passengers were seen waiting for their Phuket flights at Bangkok airport. Despite a number of crashes and scares, most recently in Indonesia, analysts say there is no hard evidence to suggest budget carriers are more accident-prone than their full-service competitors.

ITN Source | September 17, 2007

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