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PHUKET, Thailand - Heavy monsoon rain hampered the retrieval of several bodies trapped in the wreckage of a budget airliner that crashed while trying to land on the Thai resort island of Phuket, killing 88 people.
Investigators on Monday also sifted through the charred wreckage of the McDonnell Douglas MD-82 that veered off the runway, smashed into a wooded embankment and burst into flames as it tried to land during a fierce monsoon storm on Sunday.
"We still cannot clear the wreckage because of the continued heavy rains. We are moving a crane to the site and are trying to reopen the airport as soon as possible. Half a day should be enough," Deputy Transport Minister Sansern Wongcha-um said.
Phuket Deputy Governor Vorapot Rajsima said 85 bodies had been removed from the wreckage and it was believed four more remained to be extracted.
The Indonesian captain and his Thai co-pilot were both killed, but 41 people survived a crash likely to raise more safety questions about the dozens of budget carriers that have sprung up across Asia in the last decade.
Five survivors were in critical condition, with burns to 60 per cent 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 Scottish man was included on the list mistakenly.
Australia offered to help identify the victims, which so far include four Americans, one French and at least one Australian.
"This process could take some time," Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told Australia's parliament.
An Australian police disaster team worked closely with Thai officials in late 2004 and into 2005 to help identify the victims of the December 2004 tsunami, which killed 5,395 people in Thailand, more than 200 of them on Phuket.
Flights to Phuket, dubbed the "Pearl of the Andaman", were cancelled or rerouted through Krabi, a smaller resort town about 185 km (115 miles) east of Thailand's biggest island.
Officials expected Phuket airport to reopen later on Monday.
Emergency workers were quick to retrieve the "black box" flight data recorder. Much of the crash investigation is likely to focus on the weather as the plane, flown by Bangkok-based low-cost operator One-Two-Go, was coming in to land.
The Bangkok Post newspaper quoted a senior aviation official as saying the pilot told the control tower he was aborting the landing because he could not see the runway.
Survivors spoke of torrential rain and trees bent over in the wind.
"The pilot tried to bring the plane back up. He started to turn right and made a sharp turn right and then the plane went into the embankment," Millie Furlong, a 23-year-old waitress from Canada, told Reuters in hospital.
"I saw the grass and knew we were going to crash. It was very quick."
Udom Tantiprasongchai, chairman of One-Two-Go parent company Orient Thai Airlines, said the pilot was experienced.
"Police will set up an investigating committee to find out what actually caused the accident. What we need to do right now is take care of the injured," he told reporters on Sunday evening. "I'm deeply sorry about this tragic event."
Despite a number of crashes and scares, most recently in Indonesia, analysts say there is no hard evidence to suggest budget carriers are more accident-prone than their full-service competitors.
There has been no word on other nationalities of the dead on Phuket.
Airports of Thailand said there were seven crew and 78 foreigners on board, most of them European holidaymakers. More than 12 million tourists a year visit Thailand.
- REUTERS
