THAILAND: Thai Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont arrives in Phuket following deadly plane crash

Thai Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont arrives in Phuket to meet survivors and console relatives of the 89 victims of a budget airliner that crashed while trying to land in a fierce monsoon storm. A government plane carrying Thai Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont was the first aircraft allowed to land in Phuket airport on Monday (September 17) after it closed down following the crash. Surayud led other Thai officials in visiting a makeshift morgue where charred bodies of Sunday's (September 16) crash were laid out, pending identification. 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. The death toll, so far, has been placed at 89, including 34 Thais and 55 foreigners, many of them European holidaymakers visiting the "Pearl of the Andaman" isle, famed for its white-sand beaches, azure waters and nightlife. Surayud was due to meet some of the injured who were being treated in hospitals that less than three years ago were helping thousands of holidaymakers hit by the Indian Ocean tsunami.

ITN Source | September 17, 2007

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