Plane crash in Phuket

[Condoking]

Just seen this on the BBC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6997381.stm
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"Sometimes I sits and thinks, and then again I just sits" Punch 24th Oct 1906

[Nereus]

There is some more here, if you can get it to open. Looks bad.

http://www.bangkokpost.net/topstories/topstories.php?id=121720

Bangkok Post
A One-To-Go Airlines passenger jet with 128 people aboard crashed and broke in two while landing at Phuket Airport in foul weather late Sunday afternoon. Rescue workers said the death toll could be high.

Anchalee Vanichthepbutr, identified by TiTV as a Phuket province official, said "more than 30" passengers were killed.

The plane of the budget airline skidded off the runway after landing and crashed into trees, bursting into fire, she said.

"The fire was throughout the aeroplane," said Phuket Deputy Governor Worraphot Ratsrimaa. "We expect that at least 90 per cent of the passengers died."

But there was hope that many survived. TiTV showed two foreigners being carried away to local hospital.

"The plane was landing and slid off the runway. We are rescuing people and carrying injured people to hospitals," said Pol Lt Sokchai Limcharoen, a police officer in the area in an early report.

Chaisak Angsuwan, director general of the Air Transport Authority of Thailand said the aircraft broke in two as it attempted to land at Phuket airport in bad weather.

Chaisak said that there was heavy rain when flight OG269 of parent Orient Thai Airways traveling from Bangkok's Don Muang airport to Phuket attempted to make a landing. Planes in both Orient Thai and One-Two-Go livery use the OG flight identifier.

"The visibility was poor as the pilot attempted to land. He decided to make a go-around but the plane lost balance and crashed,". he said. "The plane then fell onto the runway and broke into two. It is expected that there will be deaths.

"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," said Chaisak.

Witnesses said the airline was using its usual MD-82 twin-engine passenger jet aircraft, a model of the McDonnell-Douglas DC9. One-Two-Go owned seven such planes, which it used for frequent flights around Thailand, including six each day from Bangkok to Phuket and return.

Airport officials and rescue workers are still working to help the victims from the plane which caught fire after it crashlanded and skidded off the runway.

Authorities said there were 123 passengers and five crew members on board when the plane crashed at about 3:35pm Sunday afternoon.

Weather in Phuket has been bad for several days, with thunderstorms and high wind gusts at times.
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May you be in heaven half an hour before the devil know`s you`re dead!

[The understudy]

Hi there Condocking

This has also been reported in the BKK Post. All of Prayers go out to the Families and Relatives who lost someone on that Flight!!!

Your's The understudy!!!
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Kie Adi Mundie (Me) Jedi MAster, Grand Jedi Council Member, a wunderfull handler of the Jedi Sword! Got killed execution style by his own clone army that he led. "RIP!!!"

"Working HARDER make it BETTER Moving FASTER Makes us STRONGER"

[DawnHRD]

How awful!

My condolences also to those involved & their families. Let's hope it's not as bad as they fear.
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"The question is not, can they reason? Nor, can they talk? But, can they suffer?" - Jeremy Bentham, philosopher, 1748-1832

Make a dog's life better, today!

[jackie]

Just heard on the radio that 90% have lost their live. Hope this is not true


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I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be without sponges

[chelsea]

My thoughts also go out to all of the families on that plane, it could have been any of us, but we are the lucky ones.
Found this on Sky News bujt cannoot understand it as it is all in Thai
http://news.sky.com/skynews/video/videoplayer/0,,31200-1284316,00.html
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Always Borrow Money from a Pesimist. "They Never Expect it Back"

[2dandan]

PHUKET, Thailand (Reuters) - A budget airliner crashed on the Thai resort island of Phuket on Sunday, killing 88 people as it broke up and burst into flames while trying to land in driving rain, a senior official said.

Forty two people were injured, Phuket deputy governor Vorapot Rajsima told a news conference, and a hospital official said at least five of the survivors were seriously hurt.

Flight manifests at Phuket airport suggested well over half the 123 passengers on the flight from the Thai capital were foreign and an Airports of Thailand official in Bangkok said most of the foreigners were European holidaymakers.

There were seven crew members on board. Earlier reports had said there were five.

Eight Britons, eight Thais, five Germans and two Australians were among 42 known survivors, hospital workers said.

"The plane looks as though it veered off the runway into the side of a hill," said Leslie Quahe, a Singaporean pastor who arrived at the scene about an hour after the crash.

"I was coming down the hill and saw smoke coming from the plane. It had broken into several parts," Quahe told Reuters.

Officials said the McDonnell Douglas MD-82 had broken in two on impact on landing on the Andaman Sea paradise isle, which was hit by the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

The tail section of the One-Two-Go flight lay on the runway and the rest was among the trees lining it.

"I'm deeply sorry about this tragic event," Udom Tantiprasongchai, chairman of Orient Thai Airlines which operates the low cost airline, told reporters, promising a full investigation.

FAST DESCENT

Distraught relatives gathered at the airport, on the northwest coast of Thailand's largest island, desperate for news of loved ones.

Nong Khaonual, a Thai who survived the crash with his wife, said he believed the plane had descended too quickly.

"The airplane was landing in heavy rain. It landed too fast. I have never seen anything like this. It descended very fast," he told Nation Television in hospital.

"Just before we touched the runway we felt the plane try to lift up, and it skidded off the runway," he said.

"My wife was half conscious and I dragged her out of the emergency exit. There was a man behind us and he was on fire."

Another survivor, an Irishman named John, described the attempts to land in atrocious conditions.

"You could tell there was a problem. The plane was flying around trying to land. It was making some noises and it was bad rain," John, who was travelling with a friend who also survived, told Thailand's ITV television channel.

"The plane was on fire, but I managed to get through."

[prcscct]

It's now 0338 hours here, 6 hours since the last post on this. Reports are now saying 87-88 dead. We'll probably see the number increasing a bit as those hospitalized in critical condition perhaps don't make it.

We have to take what the survivors say about cause with a grain of salt. The weather people and international pilots who fly into Phuket frequently are now all saying a microburst/wind shear as the plane was landing. As you know, at that last few seconds before touchdown, just about all power is cut and the plane is gliding. At that point apparently this wind problem hit and simply tossed the plane sideways like a feather. There had been severe storms in the area most of the day, including in Bangkok when the plane departed. A similar plane from the same company, and from Bangkok, made a safe landing in Phuket just shortly before this accident.

This MD-80 type aircraft has two rear engines. At least one was sheared off during the slide against the hill, thus causing the fuel explosion that engulfed the cabin so quickly. I think further reports are going to show that few or none died of impact, but because of the fire. A sad day. Pete
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"What America needs is a huge hypodermic needle of morality." Alice Cooper 21 Sept. 2007

[STEVE G]

Yes, an unfortunate business for those involved. Apparently the flight data recorder has been recovered and is being sent to the States for analysis, so the reason for the loss should be obtained as long as it was fully functional at the time. The people who have the unpleasant job of working out what happened in a case like this can deduce things like wind-shear from how the aircraft is reacting to the controls, and from changes in acceleration with respect to airspeed.

[Guess]

A terrible tragedy for all involved. Today's figures vary from report to report. They talk about 123 passengers and 5 crew. I have traveled on that aircraft many times and that is about full. Another report states 88 killed leaving 40 survivors.

On thing that has been common throughout all reports is the fact that some of the survivors were Iranian. This report states 17 survivors. Whatever the
number it way out of proportion with expectation.

Recently Iran have been accused of using a Thai forger to produce the documentation necessary to carry out the 9/11 hijackings. The forger has even been named and charges have been made.

So what are a load of Iranians doing on a Thai southbound flight from BKK in the low season. I bet their outgoing flight was not BKK but International and using different IDs.

Someone needs to tell the CIA that if they want cooperation by the Thai Immigration then they should offer cash.

Maybe this "accident" has scuppered someone's plans
but on the other hand maybe it was part of it.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=23409&sectionid=351020406

For those who don't keep up with all this:

A fairly recent well substantiated theory is that none of th 9/11 hijackers were the guys who were named on world TV. The photos shown on the world media were of real people who probably met a bitter end and were then substituted with the hijackers. The passports went up in flames in NY and the other crash sites. Unbelievably, a passport does not hold a digital image of the photo. Apparently they do now. Arabic speakers who overheard conversations between the hijackers all said that it was difficult to understand one word but they were not speaking in Arabic.

A second more recent event is that A Thai and some Iranians have been charged with making fake passports in Thailand.

I hope that these guys were not planning to head further south in Thailand.
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G

[JD]

I'm sure I read on a website somewhere (BBC?maybe), within the last week, that showed pictures of the emergency services at Phuket Airport practicing there fire drills. Coincidence?
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Per Angusta In Augusta.
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www.hamandbacon.co.th

[dr dave soul monsta]

Notice from the UK embassy
Orient Thai 1-2 Go Flight number OG269 from Bangkok to Phuket crashed on landing at Phuket airport at around 1720 local time on Sunday 16 September 2007. 123 people are believed to have been on board. Phuket Airport is closed. We do not know when it will re-open.


An FCO enquiry line has been set up for families who believe that their relatives might have been on flight OG269. The number is +44 (0) 207 008 0000.
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"I don't often agree with the RSPCA as i believe it is an animals duty to be on my plate at supper time"

[VincentD]

Link to the list of surviving passengers and flight manifest.

http://61.90.200.203/
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วินเชนท์

[redzonerocker]

whatever the cause of the accident, it's a sad & tragic incident.
my thoughts go out to the victims & families.

although it's dangerous to speculate before a full investigation has been carried out, it's an interesting theory caller & one that will that will no doubt come under close scrutiny from the appropriate authorities.
the way things are heading in the world, it is bound to raise a little suspicion.
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when all are one & one is all, to be a rock & not to roll.

[caller]

Nowt to do with me - I ssume you are referring to the post by Guess? Although if the description of a southern city by John Burdett in "Bangkok Tattoo" is true, they could have just been heading for some R&R?
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