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One dead as Thai plane slides off runway


    BANGKOK (Reuters) - A pilot died and at least seven passengers were injured when a commercial plane slid off a runway into a disused control tower on the Thai tourist island of Koh Samui on Tuesday, police and aviation officials said.

    The Bangkok Airways plane flying from the southern Thai resort of Krabi left the runway while landing in heavy rain.

    "The pilot was killed when the plane hit the unmanned control tower," Kanika Kaemawuttanont, director-general of the Department of Aviation, told Reuters.

    Hospital staff said two British and two Dutch tourists were among those hurt but none was seriously injured. The plane was carrying 68 passengers and four crew.

    Television footage showed minor damage to the front of the ATR-72 twin turboprop plane.

    Koh Samui, 700 km (435 miles) south of Bangkok, is Thailand's third-biggest island and one of the country's most popular holiday destinations.

    (Reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat and Kittipong Soonprasert; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Alan Raybould)