Issue date: 9/17/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Associated Press Photo Relatives of a victim of the crash cry at Phuket airport in Thailand Sunday. A plane carrying many foreign tourists to one of Thailand's most popular resort islands crashed while landing in torrential rains Sunday, killing at least 87 people and injuring 43, officials said.

PHUKET, Thailand (AP) - A passenger plane filled with foreign tourists crashed Sunday as it tried to land in pouring rain on the island of Phuket, splitting in two and bursting into flames, officials said. At least 88 people were killed.

The budget One-Two-Go Airlines domestic flight OG269 was carrying 123 passengers and seven crew members from the capital, Bangkokm to Phuket, popular among tourists for its pristine beaches and one of the areas hardest hit by the 2004 tsunami.

Survivors described their escape amid chaos, smoke and fire.

"As soon as we hit, everything went dark and everything fell," said Mildred Furlong, 23, a waitress from Prince George, British Columbia, in Canada. The plane started filling with smoke and fires broke out, she said. A passenger in front of her caught fire, while one in the back kicked out a plane window.

"I saw passengers engulfed in fire as I stepped over them on way out of the plane," Parinwit Chusaeng, a survivor who suffered minor burns, told the Nation television channel. "I was afraid that the airplane was going to explode so I ran away."

Wallop Thainua, the country's deputy health minister, said about 60 bodies were retrieved quickly, but it took hours to get the other bodies out.

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