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Thai rescue personnel attending the scene of the plane crash at Phuket international airport Sunday. (AP)
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Relatives of Israelis missing in plane crash arrive in Thailand
By Yair Ettinger, Haaretz Correspondent in Bangkok, and Agencies

BANGKOK - The relatives of three Israelis who are missing following a plane crash on the southern Thai island of Phuket landed at the island's airport on Monday.

They were greeted by Israel's ambassador Yael Rubinstein and Consul Hanoch Amadi.

Family members of another missing Israeli are expected to land in Bangkok later Monday.

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The Israeli embassy has opened a command post in order to assist family members, police and the Magen David Adom rescue service workers. The embassy is also assisting the insurance companies in the transfer of the two Israelis who were injured in the plane crash back to Israel. They are accepted to land in Israel on Tuesday.

The missing Israeli passengers are Tal Feldman; Hila Gershoni of Holon; Hofit Eliya, 25, of Kfar Yona; Itzhak Biton of Kfar Yona; Rotem Naouri, 24, of Netanya; Adi Naim of Kfar Yona; Lily Alon of Jerusalem and Rachel Tofan of Jerusalem.

The passenger plane filled mainly with foreign tourists crashed on Sunday while attempting to land in stormy conditions, leaving at least 88 people dead and 41 people injured. Two Israelis, of the ten who boarded the flight, were among the survivors and are currently hospitalized.


Thailand police identified the bodies of two Israelis who were killed in the, a representative of the Israel Police in Thailand told Israel Radio on Monday. Later Monday, Magen David Adom rescue service sources told Army Radio that "a number" of Israeli bodies had been identified.

The identification is not final, he said, and teams are still waiting for the results of the tests administered by Israeli forensic experts who arrived in Bangkok early Monday.

Thai officials have confirmed that there are Israeli fatalities among the 55 foreigners killed.

Investigators searched through the charred remains of the plane on Monday, as an airline official said wind shear may have doomed the flight.
The budget One-Two-Go Airlines flight was carrying 123 passengers and seven crew from Bangkok to Phuket when it skidded off a runway Sunday while landing in driving wind and rain, catching fire and engulfing some passengers in flames as others kicked out windows to escape.

Investigators said they had recovered the plane's two flight data recorders, known as black boxes, and hoped they would yield some answers about the accident in a few weeks. It could take a year to analyze the data, officials said.

Israel Police investigators are en route to Thailand. They are expected to use DNA, dental records and other data to confirm the identities of Israeli victims of the crash.

An Israeli diplomat said Monday that consular officials were searching hospitals in hopes of finding some of the missing Israelis among the survivors.

Haaretz has learned that 10 Israelis had been aboard the budget One-Two-Go Airlines domestic flight OG269, which was carrying 123 passengers and seven crew members to Phuket from the Thai capital, Bangkok. It was originally believed that 11 Israelis had been aboard the flight, but one of the tourists who was believed dead contacted his family and informed them that he had not boarded the plane at all.

Thai government officials published a list of the 41 survivors confirming that two Israelis had survived along with 14 Thais, seven Britons, five Iranians, four Germans, two Swedes, a Dutch passenger, a French person, one Irish person, one Australian, one Italian, one Canadian and an Austrian passenger. The survivors are being treated at three hospitals on the island, hospital officials said.

Phuket's Deputy Governor Worapot Ratthaseema said the dead included Israeli as well as Irish, Australian and British passengers.

Officials at the scene said the plane crashed in a downpour, skidded off the runaway and broke into two parts. Survivors described a chaotic situation, trying to escape from windows as fires and smoke consumed the plane.

"We are still unable to say the cause of accident," Thai Transport Minister Theera Haocharoen said. "The officials have found the black boxes and will send them for analysis to the United States. Hopefully, we will learn in a few weeks the cause of accident."

Kajit Habnanonda, president of Orient-Thai Airlines, which owns One-Two-Go, said wind shear - the rapid change in wind speed which can impact takeoffs and landings - was a possible cause of the accident.

"It is possible that the plane crash was caused by wind shear," Kajit said, adding that heavy rains could have contributed to the plane skidding off the runway.

A survivor who was slightly burned told the Nation TV channel "I saw passengers engulfed in fire as I stepped over them on the way out of the plane."

"I was afraid that the airplane was going to explode, so I ran away," Parinwit Chusaeng said.

Parinwit said he looked back and saw fires raging in the front and back of the plane. "I saw the plane in flames and there was a lot of smoke," he said.

An Irish survivor, identified only as Sean, told of being badly burned on his arms, legs and back as he escaped the flames. Speaking to TITV from a Phuket hospital, he said he had sensed early on that there was a problem.

"You could tell when it was landing it was in trouble," he said. "It was making a noise, this bang."

Director General of the Air Transport Authority of Thailand Chaisak Angsuwan said weather played a part in the crash.

"The visibility was poor as the pilot attempted to land. He decided to make a go-around but the plane lost balance and crashed," he said. "It was torn into two parts."

Anchalee Wanitthepphabutr, chief of Phuket's provincial administrative authority, said on TITV that the plane had been in flames.

The dead and injured were being taken from the plane to several Phuket hospitals, Anchalee said.

The crash is the country's deadliest aviation accident since Dec. 11, 1998, when 101 people were killed after a Thai Airways crashed while trying to land in heavy rain at Surat Thani, 530 kilometers south of Bangkok. Forty-five people survived.
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  1.   Devestating 15:35  |  Nephtaly 16/09/07
  2.   Rosh Hashanah: The day of Judgement 16:26  |  Jew 16/09/07
  3.   RE; Devestating 16:37  |  ottomatik 16/09/07
  4.   Cannot be accepted... 17:28  |  Scott 16/09/07
  5.   Judgements 17:30  |  Scott 16/09/07
  6.   To Jew 17:50  |  rasjie 16/09/07
  7.   #2 Grow Up 18:00  |  David 16/09/07
  8.   rosh hashana 18:23  |  ruti 16/09/07
  9.   "Jew" 19:09  |  Deana 16/09/07
  10.   PLANE CRASH THAIALND 19:19  |  YAAKOV 16/09/07
  11.   No. 2 19:34  |  jp 16/09/07
  12.   Rosh Hashanah 19:35  |  Dani 16/09/07
  13.   The Day of Judgement 20:04  |  Eli 16/09/07
  14.   #2 What kind of Jew is Jew 20:07  |  Yonatan 16/09/07
  15.   Pesame 20:30  |  EB 16/09/07
  16.   to "Jew" 20:40  |  Niv 16/09/07
  17.   What kind of Jew mistakes Rosh HaShana & Yom Kippor ?? 20:54  |  SA 16/09/07
  18.   CRASH IS A CONSPIRACY: ATTACK GAZA, YOU ZIONISTS!! 20:58  |  JACKAL 16/09/07
  19.   Judgement 21:31  |  Nina 16/09/07
  20.   A sad event 21:57  |  Joseph (Lebanese) 16/09/07
  21.   PLANE CRASH THAILAND 22:00  |  YAAKOV 16/09/07
  22.   in response to rosh hashana day of judgement 22:19  |  tracey 16/09/07
  23.   8 Israelis feared dead after plane crashes in Thailand 22:24  |  Maynard F. 16/09/07
  24.   #2 - Jew 22:32  |  Curious 16/09/07
  25.   # 2 Jew - Condolences, not judgement appropriate now 22:42  |  Paul Henzen 16/09/07
  26.   to Jew 23:13  |  christian 16/09/07
  27.   death doesn`t discriminate 00:45  |  nobodysacred 17/09/07
  28.   it looks as it is a message sent on purpose on Rosh Hashanah 00:49  |  nobodysacred 17/09/07
  29.   Don`t defend #2!! 02:08  |  Steve Kerzer 17/09/07
  30.   Typical Self Centered Headline 02:10  |  Nite Owl 17/09/07
  31.   Yonatan - Most Probable Cause 02:57  |  Mark Lincoln 17/09/07
  32.   Christian 03:02  |  David aDifferent Jew 17/09/07
  33.   Rosh Hashona 03:09  |  Aidel 17/09/07
  34.   to nite owl 04:23  |  lenny 17/09/07
  35.   British Tabloids? Gimmie a Break Lenny 05:21  |  Nite Owl 17/09/07
  36.   sex tourists, abusing children 06:20  |  sean 17/09/07
  37.   For Instance 07:49  |  Nite Owl 17/09/07
  38.   WOW, ISRAELIS IN THAILAND 08:16  |  indrajaya 17/09/07
  39.   THIS IS TOO MUCH ALREADY 08:43  |  indrajaya 17/09/07
  40.   Why do you even open comments for articles like this? 09:41  |  George 17/09/07
  41.   Nite Owl 09:47  |  George 17/09/07
  42.   Idiotic reply to 36 09:47  |  Jude 17/09/07
  43.   Calgary Herald, not Post. 09:49  |  George 17/09/07
  44.   Self-Centering 09:52  |  Dan 17/09/07
  45.   Dear Sean 10:12  |  Outraged 17/09/07
  46.   Hey Nite Owl 10:19  |  Juanita 17/09/07
  47.   #39 is right 10:55  |  Mark 17/09/07
  48.   "Jew" 11:03  |  Jewess 17/09/07
  49.   `nobodysacred` 11:04  |  Israelit 17/09/07
  50.   Nite Owl 11:05  |  Israelit 17/09/07
  51.   Sorry, #40 is right, not #39 11:07  |  Mark 17/09/07
  52.   They Spent Rosh Hashana with Chabad 11:23  |  Daniel 17/09/07
  53.   Indrajaya #39-40 11:26  |  S 17/09/07
  54.   Translation - Psalm 121 12:29  |  Elona 17/09/07
  55.   Ha`Aretz..........................WHY?? 12:33  |  Ari ben Yisrael 17/09/07
  56.   Latest tragedy 13:04  |  Hilda 17/09/07
  57.   Jewess- you`re quoting from the New Testament 13:30  |  Ron 17/09/07
  58.   Ron, I`m actually quoting Shakespeare 14:18  |  Jewess 17/09/07
  59.   Advertisement 14:22  |  Avid Reader 17/09/07
  60.   deana/rasjie etc re: post 2 14:31  |  Assaf 17/09/07
  61.   Apparently only Zionist deaths are relevant to Zionists 14:32  |  Hannah 17/09/07
  62.   To Number 2 14:58  |  Poitcha 17/09/07
  63.   hannah and her ugly sisters 15:00  |  glen 17/09/07
  64.   #63, Ugly Glen 15:13  |  Hannah 17/09/07
  65.   Hannah takes the cake for ugliness 15:25  |  Yonatan 17/09/07
  66.   Hideous Hannah - another persepctive 15:34  |  ChanahS 17/09/07
  67.   Haarezt again contravenes its own policy 15:34  |  Angry 17/09/07
  68.   Hannah`s pornographic fetish 15:35  |  FOX 17/09/07
  69.   I send out condolences 15:37  |  FOX 17/09/07
  70.   Plea to Palestinian parents and leaders 15:38  |  ChanahS 17/09/07
  71.   Yonatan 65 15:39  |  ChanahS 17/09/07
  72.   To Angry #67 and copy to Haaretz 16:25  |  S 17/09/07
  73.   Window of oportunity 16:38  |  Ky 17/09/07
  74.   # 39 Indrajaya - Conspiracy against Iran ? 16:49  |  Paul Henzen 17/09/07
  75.   it is sad 17:06  |  Atilla 17/09/07
  76.   Re 2 Just as stupid as...... 17:08  |  Alan the real one 17/09/07
  77.   one more thing ! 17:09  |  Atilla 17/09/07
  78.   #65, Jonatan; #66, Chanah S. 17:13  |  Hannah 17/09/07
  79.   Jewess, You`re actually quoting Matthew 7:1