Plane Carrying Tourists Crashes in Phuket, Thailand
Travel Blog • Michael Yessis • 09.17.07 | 9:34 AM ET
More than 80 people were killed, including more than 50 foreigners, when an MD-82 operated by the budget airline One-Two-Go crashed Sunday on Phuket, Thailand’s popular resort island. News reports vary on the exact number killed and injured, but many note that it was Thailand’s worst air disaster in a decade.
Early stories pointed out that the plane was landing during a rainstorm and skidded off a runway. However, the AP reports this morning that wind shear may have contributed to the crash. Thailand’s Finance Minister Chalongphob Sussangkarn spoke with reporters in Bangkok today, addressing concerns about the health of the country’s tourism industry in the wake of the crash and the safety of the Thai air system. “This event may have a psychological impact on tourism in the short term,” he said, according to Bloomberg. “In the long term, it shouldn’t have any impact. We need to ensure that our aviation standard is of a global level.”
Email to friend
Twitter
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Ma.gnolia
Mixx
Reddit
StumbleUpon
Yahoo! Buzz
Michael Yessis is the cofounder and coeditor-in-chief of World Hum.
Cristian 02.20.08 | 4:28 PM ET
If I am not mistaking a very important online stock market trading broker was on that damned plane. This will surely have a great impact on people coming to the exotic land of Thailand.