At least 87 people have died after a budget airliner crashed after landing in heavy rain at the Thai holiday resort of Phuket, officials say.

The aircraft slipped off the runway and exploded into flames. It was carrying 123 passengers - most of them foreigners - and seven crew.

About 40 people escaped the burning wreckage and were taken to hospital.

Flight OG 269, operated by airline One-Two-Go, had flown to Phuket from the Thai capital, Bangkok.

Officials say at least 87 people were confirmed dead after the plane skidded off the runway in strong winds and driving rain on Sunday.

A French tourist aboard a plane behind the one that crashed told AFP news agency she saw the accident happen.

"When the plane landed it caught fire," she said. "We could see the fire coming out of it."

Survivors crawled out of the wreckage through thick smoke, many of them badly burned.

Passenger Parinwit Chusaeng told Thai TV: "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."

Aborted landing?

Phuket Deputy Governor Worapot Ratthaseema said 42 people had been taken to hospital. Five are said to be in critical condition.

At least 70 of the passengers were foreigners, officials said.

Hospital officials told AFP news agency that those injured included nationals from Australia, Britain, France, Iran, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, and Sweden.

Both the pilot and co-pilot of the McDonnell Douglas MD-82 are among the survivors.

The flight, en route from Bangkok, was approaching Phuket airport when the pilot asked to abort the landing, an aviation official told Thai television.

"The control tower allowed it but the aircraft fell to the runway and the body broke," he said.

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

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

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

PHOTO CAPTION

Plane crash at Phuket