A Thai passenger jet with 128 people on board crashed on Sunday while coming in for landing in bad weather on the resort island of Phuket, police and officials said.
At least 39 people were killed, Thailand’s Deputy Transport Minister said.
“Thirty-nine dead bodies were found. About 50 injured were sent to hospital. We are still searching for another 34,” the minister, Sansern Wongcha-um, told reporters.
One offical 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 aircraft slid off the runway and hit the nearby jungle.”
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.” — AFP