At least 91 people died after a budget airliner crashed as it tried to land in heavy rain in Phuket in southern Thailand on Sunday, officials said.

The plane — carrying 130 passengers, 78 of them foreigners — broke apart and burst into flames after hitting the runway on Sunday afternoon.

Rescuers carry an injured passenger out of the wreckage of the crashed plane at Phuket International Airport on Sunday.
(Associated Press)

Officials said about 39 people survived, including a Canadian woman.

Flight OG 269, operated by the One-Two-Go airline, was landing after a flight from the capital, Bangkok. One-Two-Go is owned by Orient-Thai Airlines.

Canadian Mildred Anne Furlong, of Prince George, B.C., was among the survivors taken to Bangkok Phuket Hospital, said a spokesman for the facility, Narong Budsaracha.

Furlong, 23, said she escaped through a window that had been kicked out by another passenger. She suffered minor injuries, including cuts and a sprained back, and could be released within the next couple of days, Budsaracha said.

Other foreigners at the hospital include Britons, Germans, Iranians, Israelis, at least one Australian and an Irish passenger. Five of the survivors were listed in critical condition with burns to 60 per cent of their bodies, officials said.

Media reports said the plane crashed into the side of the hill in pouring rain, around 3:40 p.m. local time.

"The airplane is completely destroyed and inflamed," Maj. Gen. Deecha Butnamphet, police chief in Phuket, told local television station TITV.

"The visibility was poor as the pilot attempted to land. He decided to make a go-around but the plane lost balance and crashed. It was torn into two parts," said Chaisak Angsuwan, director general of the Air Transport Authority of Thailand.

CBC reporter Michael McAuliffe said the pilot radioed the control tower for permission to circle around again and was given permission to do that, but the plane crashed as it tried to pull out of the landing.

An Irish survivor, identified as Sean, told of being badly burned on his arms, legs and back as he escaped the flames. Speaking to TITV from a local hospital, he said he knew something was wrong before the attempted landing.

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

Officials said the flight's two data recorders or "black boxes," have been recovered from the charred and twisted wreckage, but it's too early to say what caused the crash.

With files from the Associated Press and the Canadian Press