The president of the Friends Flying Club in Samut Sakhon province died and his companion suffered serious injuries when their two-seater plane crashed into a tree before plunging into a shrimp pond in Mueang district this morning (Wednesday).
The deceased man has been identified as 55-year-old “Prakit” and the other person as a 45-year-old female known as “Saeng”. She was rushed to Samut Sakhon Hospital by EMTs.
The owner of the shrimp farm, in Village 10 of Khok Kham sub-district, told the police that she heard a plane flying over her house and, suddenly, there was a big bang as the plane crashed into a tamarind tree and fell into the pond.
She said that, initially, she thought the plane was in her mother’s pond, but soon realised that it was her own, adding she saw oil leaking out of the plane and a man and a woman inside.
She also said that she was afraid that the plane might explode and yelled for her neighbours to come to their rescue. They managed to pull both people out of the plane, but the man died.
An aviation trainer said that the plane took off from an airstrip at Best Ocean golf course in Samut Sakhon at about 6.30am, heading for Chiang Mai. He added he thinks that the plane might have developed engine trouble, because the crash site is not the plane’s route.
