Thailand pledges full assistance to plane crash victims (Roundup)

Sep 17, 2007, 10:10 GMT

   Bangkok - Thai Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont flew to Phuket Monday to inspect an airplane crash that killed 89 people at the weekend, including 53 foreigners and 36 Thais. There were 41 survivors.

In Bangkok before his departure the Thai premier gave assurances that Thailand would provide full assistance to the victims of Sunday's One-Two-Go budget airline crash at Phuket Airport.

   'The government and government agencies will provide our full assistance to the victims and their relatives,' said Surayud, visiting relatives of the victims at Bangkok's Don Muang Airport.

Phuket Airport was closed immediately after the crash at 3:40 p.m. Sunday, making it difficult for relatives of the victIms and injured to go to the island. The airport was scheduled to reopen Monday afternoon.

   Investigators of the crash have already found the two black box flight recorders on the One-Two-Go budget airline plane that crashed after landing Sunday afternoon in a rain storm.

   Phuket deputy governor Worraphot Ratsrima said the black boxes will be sent to the US for analysis, with results expected within seven days.          

   One-Two-Go flight OG269 skidded off the runway after landing at Phuket Airport in a heavy rainstorm and crashed into trees and an embarkment, splitting in two and bursting into flames.

   The 12-year-old McDonnell Douglas MD-82 aircraft was manned by a crew of five with two pilots and carrying 123 passengers, 79 of whom were foreign nationals.

   Although a list of passengers' names was available Monday, their nationalities were still unclear, but Phuket hospitals have reported Thais, British, German, Irish, French, Iranian, Australian, Swedish, and Dutch nationals among the injured.

   'Local authorities told us that there were four Germans among the injured,' said a German embassy spokesman in Bangkok. The 89 dead included Thais, Americans, Israelis, French, Swedes, Iranians, Australians and at least one German.   

    The Swedish Foreign Ministry Monday confirmed that one of two Swedish nationals listed as missing has been identified as killed in the Phuket plane crash.

Spokeswoman Petra Hansson declined to state the gender of the victims and said the two were in their 20s, and that the deceased's family had been notified.

Two other Swedes survived the crash, sustaining minor injuries.

German national news broadcaster n-tv reported that two Germans could be among the dead, but could not confirm the information.

   Both pilots, one of whom was Indonesian, were killed in the crash, as were most of the passengers sitting in the front end of the plane, said Thailand's Deputy Transport Minister Sansern Wong-Chaum.

   Survivors claimed the plane came down too quickly.   

   It was the first major accident for One-Two-Go, a budget airline operated by Orient Thai Airlines, a private Thai company.

   Orient Thai Airlines chief executive officer Udom Tantiprasongchai has promised to compensate the victims and injured.

The budget airline was insured for 305 million dollars which covered damage to the aircraft and passengers, according to Thailand's Insurance Commission Office Secretary-General Chantra Purnariksha.

'We're closely monitoring the accident. One-Two-Go is insured by a foreign insurer who could not deny the responsibility,' Chantra told Thai reporters.

    Phuket, an island rimming the Andaman Sea, is a popular beach destination for Thai and foreign tourists.

   Phuket was hard-hit by the December 26, 2004 tsunami disaster that killed 5,400 people in the six Thai provinces rimming the Andaman Sea.

   One-Two-Go is one of several privately-run no-frills airlines operating domestic routes in Thailand.