Investigators find black boxes of plane that crashed in Thailand, killing 89

PHUKET, Thailand — Authorities on Monday found the two flight data recorders from a plane that crashed and killed 89 people — mostly foreigners — on Thailand's resort island of Phuket, while an airline official said wind shear may have doomed the flight.

The budget One-Two-Go Airlines flight was carrying 123 passengers and seven crew from Bangkok to Phuket when it skidded off a runway Sunday while landing in driving wind and rain, catching fire and engulfing some passengers in flames as others kicked out windows to escape.

Deputy Transport Minister Sansern Wongcha-um told reporters that 89 people, including 53 foreigners, were killed in the crash, and 41 others were injured. The crash was Thailand's worst air accident in a decade.

Kajit Habnanonda, president of Orient-Thai Airlines, which owns One-Two-Go, said wind shear — the rapid change in wind speed which can impact takeoffs and landings — was a possible cause of the accident. Heavy rains could have contributed to the plane skidding off the runway, Kajit added.

An unofficial list compiled by the Thai Foreign Ministry showed that among the dead are six Britons, three Israelis, two Americans, two French nationals, and one victim each from Australia, Germany, Iran, Ireland and Sweden. More than 30 foreign fatalities had not yet been identified.

Also killed were the plane's Indonesian pilot and Thai co-pilot.

Survivors described how the McDonnell Douglas MD-82 was preparing to land in heavy rains when it suddenly lifted off again and then came crashing down on the runway. It rammed through a low retaining wall and split in two after it crashed.

"I think he realized the runway was too close or he was too fast or the wind had hit him," Robert Borland, a survivor who lives in Australia, told The Associated Press. "He accelerated and tried to pull out. I thought he is going around again and the next thought was everything went black and there was a big mess and we hit the ground."

Borland, 48, managed to drag himself to an exit where he was pulled by another survivor from the plane to safety.

"People were screaming. There was a fire in the cabin and my clothes caught fire," he said.

Parinwit Chusaeng, who was slightly burned, said some passengers were engulfed in flames.

"I stepped over them on the way out of the plane," Parinwit told The Nation TV channel. "I was afraid that the airplane was going to explode, so I ran away."