Thai rescue workers dragged the last bodies yesterday from the charred wreckage of a budget airliner that crashed while trying to land in a fierce monsoon storm on the resort island of Phuket, killing 89 people.
Having recovered the flight data recorders, investigators are sifting through the gutted fuselage for clues as to why the McDonnell Douglas MD-82 veered off the runway on Sunday before smashing into a wooded embankment and bursting into flames.
Deputy Transport Minister Sansern Wongcha-um said the final death toll was 34 Thais and 55 foreigners, many of them European holidaymakers. The Indonesian flight captain and his Thai co-pilot were both killed, but 41 people survived.
The coastal airstrip, known to be tricky for landing at the best of times, remained closed to commercial flights late yesterday although a government plane carrying Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont was allowed to land.
Five survivors were in critical condition, with burns to 60 percent of their bodies, hospital officials said.
Fourteen Thais, seven Britons, five Iranians and four Germans were among those injured. The number of survivors was cut by one after a Scotsman was mistakenly included on the list.
Australiaoffered to help identify the victims, who so far are known to include four Swedes, three Americans, two Iranians, a French national, at least one Australian and one Briton.
(China Daily 09/18/2007 page 8)
（英语点津 Linda 编辑）
About the broadcaster:
Marc Checkley is a freelance journalist and media producer from Auckland, New Zealand. Marc has had an eclectic career in the media/arts, most recently working as a radio journalist for NewstalkZB, New Zealand’s leading news radio network, as a feature writer for Travel Inc, New Nutrition Business (UK) and contributor for Mana Magazine and the Sunday Star Times. Marc is also a passionate arts educator and is involved in various media/theatre projects in his native New Zealand and Singapore where he is currently based. Marc joins the China Daily with support from the Asia New Zealand Foundation.
