PHUKET, Thailand (AFP) - Airline officials on Tuesday were forced to defend their crew as investigators examined whether human error caused the Thai air crash which killed 89 people, mostly foreign tourists.
All bodies have now been recovered from the blackened wreckage, senior police said, but 36 of the 57 foreign nationals thought to have died when the plane tried to land on the resort island of Phuket remain unidentified.
Details have emerged that air traffic control warned the Indonesian pilot of dangerous winds as he came in to land in heavy rain on Sunday.
Moments later, the plane -- operated by budget carrier One-Two-Go -- veered off the runway into a wooded embankment, burst into flames and split in two.
"There was a warning of wind shear from the pilot in the previous flight, which landed four minutes ahead," said Kumtorn Sirikorn, vice president of air traffic control body Aeronautical Radio of Thailand.
"Air traffic control asked the pilot whether he knew about this wind shear or not, and he said he knew ... then the air traffic control official gave him additional information and asked him whether he still wanted to land or not."
"The pilot insisted he wanted to land," Kumtorn told AFP.
However aviation officials previously said that Arief Mulyadi, the Indonesian pilot who died in the crash, had received permission to abort the landing at the last minute.
Arief Mulyadi's son told media in his home country that Phuket authorities said his father had wanted to turn back for Bangkok, but that the control tower said he should land.
Wind shear is a sudden change in the wind that can throw a plane off course but then disappear just as quickly, leaving pilots struggling to keep the jet under control.
Udom Tantiprasongchai, president of One-Two-Go, said the airline had to accept partial responsibility, but vigorously defended their crew.
"It is too soon to jump to conclusions, it is unfair to our staff. Please wait until the investigation is finished," he told reporters.
His vice president Kajit Habanananda urged investigators not to assume that human error was to blame for Thailand's worst air disaster in a decade.
"It's true that there was a warning of wind shear from the previous flight," Kajit said. "But the wind is constantly changing."
Deputy transport minister Sansern Wongcha-um has said that the black box flight recorders -- dug out of the wreckage hours after the crash -- would be sent to the United States for analysis, with results expected in a week.
Sansern said all findings would then be submitted to an investigating commission, and the cause of the crash would be known within two weeks.
Grieving relatives gathered in Phuket on Tuesday to claim the bodies of those killed in the crash.
A flight from Bangkok carrying the first foreign relatives landed in Phuket on Tuesday morning, officials at the One-Two-Go information centre said.
Police in charge of the rescue operation said that the bodies of all 89 people killed in the crash had been recovered from the wreckage, and all the autopsies had been completed.
"All 32 Thai victims have been identified, and of the (57) foreigners, 21 have been identified and autopsies have been carried out on the other 36," Major General Santhan Chayanon, police chief at the crash site, told AFP.
"Forensic officials have completed their examination of all the dead. They have been photographed and we have collected dental records, finger prints and DNA samples, and preserved their bodies in refrigerators," he added.
Santhan said officials were waiting for relatives of the unidentified foreign dead to come forward with evidence to help identify the bodies.
So far, the US embassy in Bangkok confirmed five American tourists were killed, while the British embassy said several Britons were dead without giving a specific figure.
The French foreign ministry said three citizens had died. Germany, Sweden, Australia and Ireland reported one fatality each.
Details have emerged that air traffic control warned the Indonesian pilot of dangerous winds as he came in to land in heavy rain on Sunday.
Moments later, the plane -- operated by budget carrier One-Two-Go -- veered off the runway into a wooded embankment, burst into flames and split in two.
"There was a warning of wind shear from the pilot in the previous flight, which landed four minutes ahead," said Kumtorn Sirikorn, vice president of air traffic control body Aeronautical Radio of Thailand.
"Air traffic control asked the pilot whether he knew about this wind shear or not, and he said he knew ... then the air traffic control official gave him additional information and asked him whether he still wanted to land or not."
"The pilot insisted he wanted to land," Kumtorn told AFP.
However aviation officials previously said that Arief Mulyadi, the Indonesian pilot who died in the crash, had received permission to abort the landing at the last minute.
Arief Mulyadi's son told media in his home country that Phuket authorities said his father had wanted to turn back for Bangkok, but that the control tower said he should land.
Wind shear is a sudden change in the wind that can throw a plane off course but then disappear just as quickly, leaving pilots struggling to keep the jet under control.
Udom Tantiprasongchai, president of One-Two-Go, said the airline had to accept partial responsibility, but vigorously defended their crew.
"It is too soon to jump to conclusions, it is unfair to our staff. Please wait until the investigation is finished," he told reporters.
His vice president Kajit Habanananda urged investigators not to assume that human error was to blame for Thailand's worst air disaster in a decade.
"It's true that there was a warning of wind shear from the previous flight," Kajit said. "But the wind is constantly changing."
Deputy transport minister Sansern Wongcha-um has said that the black box flight recorders -- dug out of the wreckage hours after the crash -- would be sent to the United States for analysis, with results expected in a week.
Sansern said all findings would then be submitted to an investigating commission, and the cause of the crash would be known within two weeks.
Grieving relatives gathered in Phuket on Tuesday to claim the bodies of those killed in the crash.
A flight from Bangkok carrying the first foreign relatives landed in Phuket on Tuesday morning, officials at the One-Two-Go information centre said.
Police in charge of the rescue operation said that the bodies of all 89 people killed in the crash had been recovered from the wreckage, and all the autopsies had been completed.
"All 32 Thai victims have been identified, and of the (57) foreigners, 21 have been identified and autopsies have been carried out on the other 36," Major General Santhan Chayanon, police chief at the crash site, told AFP.
"Forensic officials have completed their examination of all the dead. They have been photographed and we have collected dental records, finger prints and DNA samples, and preserved their bodies in refrigerators," he added.
Santhan said officials were waiting for relatives of the unidentified foreign dead to come forward with evidence to help identify the bodies.
So far, the US embassy in Bangkok confirmed five American tourists were killed, while the British embassy said several Britons were dead without giving a specific figure.
The French foreign ministry said three citizens had died. Germany, Sweden, Australia and Ireland reported one fatality each.
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