Work to identify Thai crash dead

Rescuers have recovered all of the bodies of the crash victims

Officials on the Thai island of Phuket are working to identify the victims of Sunday's devastating air crash.

At least 89 people were killed when the plane, operated by budget airline One-Two-Go, skidded off the runway.

Many foreigners were on the flight. Eighteen Iranians are known to have died, but full casualty figures from other nations have yet to be confirmed.

The plane's flight recorders have been recovered and an investigation is under way into the cause of the crash.

There are reports that the pilot was warned of dramatic wind shear at the airport before he tried to land.

Burning wreckage

Of the 130 people on board the plane, only 41 are known to have escaped the burning wreckage.

All of the victims' bodies have now been removed from the aircraft and officials are trying to determine their names and nationalities.

The police chief overseeing the site, Maj-Gen Santhan Chayanon, said that 57 foreigners were believed to be among the dead.

KNOWN CRASH FATALITIES US: At least 4 Iran: 18 confirmed Australia: 1 UK: At least 1 France: 1 Sweden: 1 Indonesia: 1 (pilot) Germany: 1 Survivors recall chaos High price for cheap flights?

"All 32 Thai victims have been identified and of the foreigners, 21 have been identified and autopsies have been carried out on the other 36, and we are waiting for relatives to help identify them," he told the French news agency AFP.

The dead are believed to come from countries including the US, the UK, Australia, France, Iran and Sweden. Their relatives have begun arriving in Phuket.

Survivors of the crash are recovering in hospitals on the holiday island.

They have described how the plane, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82 aircraft travelling from Bangkok, skidded off the runway and smashed into an embankment.

The plane broke up and burst into flame. Many survivors spoke of seeing other passengers on fire as they struggled to escape through emergency exits.

"There was fire in the cabin, my clothes caught fire, my trousers," said Australian Robert Borland.

"I was able to drag myself across to the other side, which is where the exit row was. A person was able to assist me, drag me out of the aircraft."

Weather blamed

Bad weather is being seen as a potential cause of the crash.

The plane appeared to slide off the runway

Aviation officials have said that the pilot received permission to abort the landing - in heavy rain and high winds - just before he crashed.

Another official told Reuters news agency said that two aircraft which landed before the One-Two-Go flight had reported serious wind shear, something which the pilot would have overheard.

But on Monday Transport Minister Theera Haocharoen said it was too early to determine what had happened.

"The officials have found the black boxes [flight recorders] and will send them for analysis to the United States," he said. "Hopefully, we will learn in a few weeks the cause of accident."

One-Two-Go is one of Thailand's many budget airlines.

It was set up in December 2003 as a subsidiary of Orient Thai Airways, and flies domestic routes.

This is Thailand's deadliest aviation accident since December 1998, when 101 people were killed after a Thai Airways plane crashed on landing near another southern resort.