'A man behind us was on fire'

Phuket, Thailand: Most of the 123 passengers travelling on a jet that crashed yesterday on Thailand's southern resort island of Phuket were foreigners, the country's airport operator said.

"There were 45 Thai passengers and 78 foreign passengers on board," an official from Airports of Thailand said.

"The captain is Indonesian and the co-pilot is Thai, while the five cabin attendants are all Thai," she said.

Eight Britons, eight Thais, five Germans and two Australians were among known survivors, hospital workers said.

"Just before we touched the runway we felt the plane try to lift up, and it skidded off the runway," Nong Khaonual, a Thai who survived the crash with his wife, told Nation Television in hospital.

"My wife was half conscious and I dragged her out of the emergency exit. There was a man behind us and he was on fire."

Veered

Leslie Quahe, a Singaporean pastor who arrived at the scene about an hour after the crash, said: "The plane looks as though it veered off the runway into the side of a hill.

Distraught relatives gathered at the airport, on the northwest coast of Thailand's largest island, desperate for news of loved ones. Foreign tour representatives, waiting to meet tourists at the terminal, were also examining passenger lists.

"My relative was on the plane," Yongchan Phasriwong said, his wife in tears beside him. "He worked with the customs department in Phuket.

"The airline tells us nothing. They do not have information for us. I hope he will make it."

Phanee Waiyaphreuk wanted to know if her son had survived.

"I came here to find information about my son who is a trainee cabin crew member and was on board. He just graduated," she said.