One dead, four injured in plane fire

BANGKOK (AFP): At least one person was killed and four others were injured when a Thai Airways Boeing 737-400 burst into flames this afternoon on the tarmac at Bangkok’s domestic airport, police and airport officials said. Police Major General Amnuay Ditkavee, Bangkok’s deputy police commissioner, told reporters at the airport that the dead body of a Thai Airways crew member was pulled from the smouldering wreckage of flight TG114. Airport officials said four other people were injured and had been rushed to a nearby hospital. They said the injured included the captain, a flight steward and a baggage handler. The other person has yet to be identified. Boarding had yet to begin on the flight. One airport official said 149 passengers were to have been aboard the flight to the northern city of Chiang Mai, including Thailand’s new prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra.