Two black boxes of the budget airliner that crashed at Phuket International Airport in southern Thailand on Sunday afternoon and killed 90 persons have been found early Monday morning, media in Bangkok reported.

 

 

Meanwhile, Thailand's Transport Permanent Secretary Chaiyasawat Kitipornpaibool said on Monday that Phuket International Airport would resume its operation on Monday evening, after the airport closed temporarily on Sunday afternoon in the aftermath of the crash.

 

Chaiyasawat also said the accident of the One-Two-Go aircraft should not affect operations of other low-cost airlines.

 

The Orient Thai Airlines, parent company of the budget carrier One-Two-Go, has bought insurance for its One-Two-Go aircraft for US$300 million per each accident, according to Air Transport Department Director-General Chaiyasak Angkhasuwan.

 

News network The Nation quoted Chaiyasak as saying that the insurance policy covered third-party persons and Orient Thai Airlines will initially pay 100,000 baht (US$2,941) to each victim for funeral cost.

 

Initial reports said the plane was carrying 130 persons aboard, including 123 passengers and seven crew. There were 79 foreigners on board, including citizens from Australia, Austria, France, Britain, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Sweden and the Netherlands.

 

Authorities released the partial list of the victims -- 20 Thai nationals by press time. The identification of the victims was not completed. It is not yet confirmed either by authorities as to how many foreigners were killed or survived the accident.

 

Airport administration officials said the two-engine airplane, flight number OG 269, took off from the Bangkok's Don Muang airport at 2:30 PM (0730GMT) on Sunday, and arrived at the airport around 3:40 PM on Sunday (0840 GMT).

 

 

After a failed landing attempt, the aircraft slid off the runway, crashed into trees and an earth embankment on the side of the airport before it broke into two sections and burst into flame.

 

Rescue teams had found it difficult to retrieve bodies of the victims from the plane's wreckage.

 

All flights in and out of the Phuket airport were canceled, affecting some 1,000 passengers.

 

Investigation of the crash cause is still underway. Authorities would not suspect the actual cause until the investigation concluded, although initial reports had cited heavy rains and poor visibility at the landing time as a suspected reason.

 

Phuket is an island located on the eastern coast of Indian Ocean in southern Thailand and one of Southeast Asia's most popular tourist destinations. Phuket has been under the spell of stormy weather, common for the local rainy season, in latest days.

The One-Two-Go airline, a domestic subsidiary to Bangkok-based Orient Thai Airways and Thailand's first low cost airline which started operating no-frill flights in 2003, runs the Bangkok-Phuket flights from Don Muang airport, once known as the Bangkok International Airport, six times a week.

 

Sunday's tragedy is the first disaster reported for Thailand's low-cost airline industry.

 

 

(Xinhua News Agency September 18, 2007)