PHUKET: Details were emerging today of the murder of an American tourist in the Thai holiday province of Krabi as local officials prepared for a deluge of unwanted publicity.

It's understood that five to seven people were with American Bobby Cater, 51, and his son Adam, 27, when a night out turned to tragedy.

The manager of the Long Horn Saloon in Ao Nang, a holiday port on the coast, told Phuketwan today that two of the people with the Carters were women.

The manager, Wanchai ''Dew'' Potata, said today that he wasn't a witness to the murder but he had seen what happened inside the Long Horn.

The men accused of the killing were all members of the band that played live at the Long Horn, Khun Dew said, usually with a female singer.

The Long Horn, on the beach road north of Ao Nang, has a low stage with instruments for the band in place and a spot at the front where members of the audience sometimes perform.

''The Carters put some money into the 'tip' box before singing,'' Khun Dew said. ''Then there was some kind of dispute and they took the money back out again.

''One or both of the Carters wanted to keep singing, but the band wanted to stop,' he said.

The dispute inside the Long Horn was followed by a fight outside, about 30 metres away, Khun Dew said. At least one sharpened steel rod, a preferred local weapon, was used in the killing.

''The man who is accused of using the steel rod is a drummer, 'T','' Khun Dew said. ''He denies the killing but says it's possible that Mr Carter fell on the steel rod as they scuffled.''

Khun Dew said that the Long Horn had been open for about two years. Customers enjoyed it from 4pm, he said, with live music from 10pm to midnight and a closing time of 1am.

The murder took place about that time, according to a spokesperson at Krabi Hospital, in Krabi Town. It's believed the Carters were staying at a five-star resort.

Nurses at the hospital, about 20 kilometres from Ao Nang, treated Adam Carter for his wounds before sending him in an ambulance to the better equipped Bangkok Phuket Hospital in Phuket City.

Mr Carter appeared to be recovering this afternoon but declined to be interviewed by Phuketwan reporters.

Earlier this month, Bangkok taxi driver Chidchai Utmacha allegedly hacked to death an American expat resident, Troy Lee Pilkington, in a dispute over a $1.60 fare.

Ao Nang is a transit point for tourists who sometimes go on to Phi Phi, the popular holiday island a speedboat or ferry ride away, or try their hand rock climbing at Railay Bay, which is on the mainland but only accessible by boat.

Krabi has had more than its share of violent attacks on tourists in the past 18 months, including the alleged rape of a young Dutch woman.

The incident prompted her father, a composer and singer, to make a video in which he performs an ode to justice and revenge, 'Evil Man from Krabi.'

In other violent acts, a British man walking home with his girlfriend was hacked in Ao Nang and a young German woman needed surgery to reattach a thumb after a knife attack in Krabi Town.