One-Two-GO Airlines Flight 269 - Recovery

Recovery

Passengers and crew of OG269 received little benefit from fire and rescue services. On the day of the crash, Phuket Airport did not meet the requirements of fire and rescue protection required by international standards. The foam and water in the trucks used three days earlier in a training exercise and had not been restocked. When an airport has a reduction in fire or rescue capacity, ATC is required to notify incoming traffic of the reduction, but no notification was made.

Hampering rescue efforts was a six-foot ditch beside and parallel to runway 27 running the length of the runway. Rescue vehicles were unable to cross this ditch, though they could have entered at either end of the runway. None did. Survivors complained that only a single ambulance arrived, and forced the healthy into the vehicle, leaving behind trapped and injured.

Additional fire and rescue from the town of Phuket arrived 30 minutes later. Their slower than normal response was due to the ATC radio call for help from town that an aircraft that had “slid” off the runway rather than declaring an emergency situation. Additionally, the Airport failed to include "Crash on Airport" procedures in its air service manual as required by ICAO, so the highly skilled and trained rescuers within Thailand were never contacted. The only passengers who exited the aircraft alive, did so of their own accord. These inadequate materials and delays may have had a negative impact on passengers who initially survived the crash. Some bodies were found days later in the mud beneath the aircraft.

A non air conditioned airport hangar was used as a morgue until the identity of foreign victims was confirmed via either DNA or fingerprint. The bodies of foreign nationals were repatriated only after cremation or embalming, so autopsies were not possible.