A Thai Lion Air flight was forced to return to Hat Yai airport for an emergency landing on Wednesday after a co-pilot lost consciousness 20 minutes after take-off and later died.

Worawut Kongkositkul, who is in charge of flight operations for the airline, said Peter Esberte, who co-piloted flight SL8537 from Hat Yai to Bangkok, collapsed and was later pronounced dead.

Read more: Bangkok Post