BANGKOK (REUTERS, AFP, AP, BERNAMA) - Sixty-six people were killed and 43 were hospitalised after a budget airliner crashed on the Thai resort of Phuket in driving rain on Sunday and burst into flames, said officials.
Around half of the passengers were foreigners, most of them European, an Airports of Thailand official in Bangkok said, and 29 people were known to have survived, including eight Britons, seven Thais and two Australians.
Meanwhile, Phuket's Deputy Governor Worapot Ratthaseema said that officials have counted at least 60 bodies, which have been laid out in airport building. More than 110 people are believed to have been killed.
'At least 60 people have been confirmed dead and 43 have been hospitalised,' Mr Worapot said. He said the remaining passengers were still considered missing.
The reports said at least 74 of the passengers were Thais and the rest foreigners. Among the injured were Britons, Australians, Iranians, Germans and Irish while the identities of the dead were not known yet.
