PHUKET: Two people, including the pilot, were killed and two others seriously injured when a small training plane crashed in a rubber plantation in Thalang district on Saturday morning.
The trainer, carrying four people, went down opposite a welfare home for the elderly in tambon Pha Khok, said Pol Capt Natthee Pichitchainimitmet, a duty officer at the Thalang police station, who was alerted at 11am on Saturday.
Police and rescue workers who rushed to the scene found the wreckage of the small craft with two people dead inside and two others badly hurt. The injured were sent to Vachira Hospital.
The dead victims were later identified as pilot Wattana Thinphang-nga and a man identified only as Narin, who was a teacher at Thalang Technical College. The injured, a man and a woman, were students from the college, Thai media reported.
A police investigation found that the plane took off around 10.30am from a small private airfield. The Butterfly 05 (HS-PMS) light aircraft bore the logo and name of the Siam Aviation Association.
Investigators are working to determine the cause of the crash.
