Thai budget airline boss on trial in Paris over 2007 One-Two-GO crash in Phuket that killed 90 people
- The passenger jet carrying 123 passengers and seven crew skidded off the runway and burst into flames while trying to land in driving rain
- One-Two-GO president Udom Tantiprasongchai has never been detained and has never responded to a judicial summons so will be tried in absentia
The former head of a budget Thai airline goes on trial in Paris on Monday over a deadly 2007 plane crash that killed 90 people, nearly two-thirds of them foreigners.
Filed by the families of the nine French victims along with one survivor, the civil suit says the crash was an “accident waiting to happen”.
It raises a string of allegations against the now-defunct airline, running from exhausted pilots to falsified flight logs.
The crash happened on the resort island of Phuket on September 16, 2007, when a One-Two-GO passenger jet carrying 123 passengers and seven crew skidded off the runway and burst into flames while trying to land in driving rain and heavy winds.
The victims’ families have accused the airline of trying to cover up a series of failings which led to the crash, with Monday’s case levelling a manslaughter charge against One-Two-GO president Udom Tantiprasongchai.
At the time, he admitted the airline had to accept partial responsibility for what was Thailand’s worst air disaster in a decade. But despite an international warrant for his arrest, he has never been detained and has never responded to a judicial summons, meaning he is likely to be tried in absentia.
