Forty-six people, including 12 foreigners, survived the accident, which occurred in darkness and driving rain on last evening, airline officials said. Police said five US citizens were among the dead.

Hundreds of rescue workers waded through muddy swamp to pull charred bodies from the wreckage of the plane which was carrying 146 passengers and crew.They used heavy cutting equipment to break open the fuselage of the Airbus A 310-200 and recover the dead, including the mangled remains of a pilot trapped in the smashed cockpit, rescue officials said.

Police said at least 97 people were dead, some of whom were still inside the fuselage, which caught fire after the crash. Local TV quoted other officials as confirming 94 dead.

They said 46 injured had been taken to five local hospitals. They included 12 foreigners -- three Japanese, two Israelis, four Australians, two Germansand one Briton. Police said there were only 43 survivors, but gave no details.

Meanwhile, the salvage workers on Saturday retrieved a black box flight recorder from the wreckage. ``The rescue workers found a black box early this morning at the site of the crash,'' Niwat Sawaskao, deputy governor of Surat Thani told AFP. ``It was found at the rear of the aircraft.'' The flight recorder may help rescuers piece together the final moments of the craft.

Most airlines carry two flight recorders, one of which tracks data from the flight and another which records conversations in the cockpit and exchanges with air traffic controllers.