Bangkok Airways jet skidded

Bangkok Airways jet skidded, BANGKOK: A pilot was killed and seven passengers hospitalised Tuesday when a Bangkok Airways jet skidded and hit an old control tower as it landed on Thailand’s resort island of Ko Samui, the airline said.

Thailand’s public health ministry said 42 people were injured in the crash.

Among the injured, Bangkok Airways’ president said four passengers — one Italian, two British and one Swiss — were seriously injured.

“The flight landed on the south runway and skidded off on the left side before it hit an abandoned air control tower. The aircraft was damaged,” Puttipong Prasattong Osot told reporters.

“The captain was killed and the co-pilot was evacuated from the aircraft and is now hospitalised,” he said.

Another six passengers had also been taken to hospital, with broken legs among the injuries, but everyone on board had been safely evacuated, he said.

“There are four passengers seriously wounded, one Italian, two British, one Swiss,” he added.

Puttipong named the pilot as Captain Chatchai Pansuwan and said he had worked with Bangkok Airways for 19 years, and had flown that model of aircraft for the past 14 years.

Aviation officials were en route to Samui airport to investigate the cause of the incident, he said.

There were 68 passengers aboard the 70-seater ATR-72, Puttipong said, which was flying from the southwestern tourist town Krabi, on the Andaman coast, to Ko Samui in the Gulf of Thailand.

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Bangkok Airways jet skidded