Thai Jet crashes with 128 passengers
Thai Plane landing in bad weather on the resort island of Phuket, the
passenger jet with 128 people on board crashed on Sunday .
Police said few people were rescued from the wreckage of the MD-80.
Jet was operated by Thai budget carrier One-Two-Go and was flying in
from the capital Bangkok.
Onlooker said the plane broke into two pieces when it slammed into the
ground, while another said the aircraft slid off the runway in the
rain, slammed into the nearby jungle and caught fire.
A local official told TiTV television news she feared more than 30 people had been killed in the crash.
"The number of deaths is still unclear but it is likely more than 30
people," said Anchalee Vanich Thepbutr, a senior provincial official in
Phuket.
The pilot had asked for clearance to land and it was not immediately
clear what went wrong, said civil aviation official Chiasak Angkauwan.
"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," he told TiTV television. "It is expected that there will be
deaths."
"We are rescuing people from the aircraft ... we know now there were
123 passengers and five crew," he told the news channel. "We won't know
what really happened until we hear the black box."
An unnamed doctor at a central emergency reporting centre in Bangkok
told Thai television that initial reports indicated more than 100
people on board the plane had been injured.
"Deaths could not be confirmed. Most people were injured from broken
legs and wounds on the head. The passengers were both Thai and
foreigners," the doctor said.
Mildred Anne Furlong of Prince George, B.C., said she escaped through a
window that had been kicked out by another passenger.Furlong, 23,
suffered only whiplash and cuts.In an interview with The Canadian Press from Phuket International Hospital, she said she can't believe she actually walked away from the
wreckage."Really looking at the footage on the news, I can't believe anybody did. It looks so bad. I can't believe it really. And like, there was only a few of us that got out on our own. It's amazing
that I was one of them."
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