Dozens of persons were killed Sunday after a plane crashed as it was trying to land at the Phuket Airport in southern Thailand, authorities said.

At 3:40 pm (0840 GMT), a plane belonging to the Thai low-cost airline One-Two-Go attempted to land in heavy rain at the airport in the Phuket holiday resort, but for unknown reasons the aircraft skidded off the runway and struck some trees and a wall.

The McDonnell Douglas MD-83 plane broke in two and was immediately engulfed in flames after the impact. Fiver crew members, two pilots and 123 passengers were on board the flight from Bangkok, 45 being Thai citizens, the airline informed.

Phuket Deputy Governor Worraphot Ratsrimaa said the rescue operations were hampered by raging flames and heavy rainfall.

Sources from Airports of Thailand said 75 people were confirmed dead and at least 42 have been injured when flight OG 269 crashed amidst poor weather conditions.

But after rescue teams managed to contain the blaze, Thai officials announced that 88 people lost their lives in the terrible accident which occurred when the aircraft tried for the second time to land.

Eleven Thai nationals, six Britons, six Irish citizens, three Australians, three Iranians, two Swedes, one German and another person from the Netherlands were transported to medical facilities in Phuket, media said.

Most of the survivors suffered injuries when they tried to escape from the flaming wreckage, jumping from emergency exists. Thirteen people are still missing, as the rescue operations continue.

A survivor told journalists that almost half of the people on board were foreign tourists. He described the landing as very abrupt, saying he flew “on many airplanes… but there was something strange about the landing.” The plane reportedly dropped to fast and couldn’t stay on the runway.

Other survivors described terrifying images of people desperately trying to save themselves by breaking the plane’s windows, while others were fighting to put out the flames engulfing them.

After Sunday’s accident, authorities closed the Phuket Airport, the second busiest airport of Thailand after Suvarnabhumi Airport. One-Two-Go is a subsidiary of Orient Thai Airlines and operates domestic routes in Thailand since December, 2003.

Phuket is the biggest island in Thailand, located about 640 kilometres south of Bangkok in the Andaman Sea. Its beaches are famous throughout the region and thousands of Thai foreign tourists travel to the island each year.