At least 61 people were killed Sunday when a Thai airliner crashed on landing in bad weather on the southern resort island of Phuket, the director of Phuket International Airport said.

"Sixty-one people were pulled from the wreckage. There are still about 40 people missing. The rest were sent to hospital," Pornchai Eua-aree said.

"We still don't know the cause of the accident," he said.

Aviation officials have said that the MD-82, operated by low-cost carrier One-Two-Go, burst into flames and broke in two when it slid off the runway upon landing, crashing into trees.

 Around half of the 123 passengers were foreigners, an Airports of Thailand official in Bangkok said.

Most of the foreigners were European, the official added.

Phuket deputy governor Vorapot Rajsima told Channel 9 television as many as 90 percent of those on board were believed to have died.