90 confirmed dead in Thai plane crash on Sunday

Sep 17: In a worst airline crash in Thailand killed at least 90 people and injured others while landing at the island Phuket on Sunday.

According to the official report the airline belong to Orient Thai Airways carrying 123 passengers and 5 crew members burst into flames while trying to land. Most of the dead and injured are foreign tourists; conditions of some of the injured passengers are critical and admitted into the hospital.

Till now authority have not figured out the exact cause of the accident though it was raining heavily with strong win at the time of landing. Meanwhile as per the agency report two of the data recorders or black box have been recovered and sent for examination.

Passengers belong to foreign national include Australia, Britain, Germany, Austria, France , Netherlands, Iran and Ireland along with Thais. The pilot, due to adverse weather was directed to land but as soon as the One-Two-Go Airlines' domestic flight OG269 landed, the plane crashed into two pieces and burst into flames on the runway.

So far 88 bodies have been recovered though it is not possible to recognize many of them but rescuers were able to bring another 42 out of the flames, who were later sent to different hospitals nearby.

The director general of Thailand's Air Transport Authority, Chaisak Angsuwan, said the weather may be the prime factor in crash as the visibility was very poor.

This is the second worst plane crash in Thailand after the December 1998 incident in which 101 people died in the southern Thailand.

As Phuket is one of country’s most visited tourist destination it is visited everyday by thousands of tourists from all across the country but with the accident many tourists have cancelled their tickets with the cancellation of aircrafts. This may affect the tourism sector of the country for some time.

Meanwhile, the Thai P rime Minister Surayud Chulanont said today in Bangkok that the nation's planes and airports meet well of international safety standard and the recent incident is an unfortunate one with the adverse weather condition.