Plane crashes at Phuket airport

A Thai passenger plane crashed and burst into flames as it landed in driving rain on the resort island of Phuket, killing 87 people and 43 survived, accounting for all those on board.

The pilot of the MD-82, operated by budget carrier One-Two-Go and carrying 123 passengers and seven crew, had received permission to abort the landing at the last minute. Instead the plane smashed onto the runway, careered into an embankment and broke in two.

The plane had flown in from the capital Bangkok in mid-afternoon in heavy rain and low visibility. It dropped really fast and then jerked back up. The right wing hit a tree and then the plane hit the ground. The people around were burning in fire.

Television images showed the blackened, smouldering jet lying on grass off the runway by a fence and close to trees. Officials and rescuers could be seen carrying bodies covered with blankets from the wreckage in the pouring rain.

Due to the lacking of refrigerators at the hospitals, those dead bodies in were laid in the auditorium room at the Phuket airport terminal.

One-Two-Go expressed "deep regret". One-Two-Go carrier was founded in 2003 and its a subsidiary of Orient Thai. It's Thailand's first budget passenger airline.