BANGKOK -- A Thai Airways jet carrying 83 people including two Americans today dodged another airliner also landing and crashed into a shallow bay at Phuket Island, leaving no survivors, officials said.
Marine police in Phuket, 430 miles south of Bangkok, said there were no known survivors from Thai Airways Flight 365, which crashed about 3:40 p.m.
By nightfall, rescuers had recovered only 12 bodies and partial remains of others on board the Boeing 737. Officials said there was little chance survivors would be found.
Narong Tidhjithens, manager of Thai Airways, told reporters in Bangkok the plane swerved to avoid another Boeing 737 from Dragonair airlines of Hong Kong, which was landing at Phuket at the same time.
'Phuket control tower said the Thai aircraft was trying to avoid a collision with a Dragonair flight as it was reducing altitude at 1,000 feet above sea level,' Narong said. 'The Dragonair plane landed safely but the Thai aircraft crashed into the sea.'
Officials said the Thai plane was carrying two infants, 35 Thai passengers and 37 foreigners to the popular resort island in Thailand's far south. There were nine Thai crew members aboard.
Many of the foreigners were from nearby Malaysia and Singapore. Two Americans, identified as William Neil and Jantree Ward, also were on board, officials said. American Embassy officials said they did not know theAmericans' hometowns.
Thai Airline official Wilai Oulansatien said the two Americans got on Flight 365 at the last moment when two other passengers canceled reservations.
'We have been searching all day and there is no sign of survivors. We believe everyone aboard was killed,' said Suriya Pinbradit, duty officer of the Phuket marine police involved in rescue operations.
The Thai Airways flight was landing at Phuket on a 40-minute flight from the southern city of Haad Yai while the Dragonair flight was coming from Hong Kong. Dragonair's flight to Phuket is one of the few routes it operates outside China.
Phuket Gov. Chalerm Promlert said in a telephone interview the Thai Airways jet crashed into the ocean about 8 miles from the Phuket airport and about 1 mile off Thailand's western coast.
Chalerm quoted two witnesses as saying the plane plunged nose first into the shallow bay. They said they heard a loud sound like an explosion as the plane shattered and sank, he said.
Chalerm said his reports indicated the force of the explosion scattered debris more than a half-mile from the crash site. A number of life preservers also were spotted floating in the area.
Narong said he could not confirm an explosion and said the loud sound reported could have been the sound of the airline's impact.
Narong said Capt. Vishanet Ampawat, who had 19,000 hours of flying experience, was the pilot of the 7-year-old jet.
The crash was the second Thai Airways plane lost near Phuket. In April 1985, a Boeing 737 crashed into a nearby mountain, killing all 11 people aboard.
In 1980, a Thai Airways Hawker-Siddely 748 twin-engine plane crashed in northeastern Thailand, killing 41 people.
