PHUKET: One Chinese tourist is dead and at least 20 others have been injured, some seriously, after a bus plunged into jungle off a dangerous hill road in southern Phuket today.

A second bus, with its driver defying an order not to use the road, caused further problems as emergency workers were bringing injured passengers from the bus.

The fatal crash took place about 8.30am on the route between Karon and Chalong Circle, a notoriously dangerous steep road.

It took until about noon for workers to lift the upside down bus back to the road surface.

The CNR tour bus had picked up the Chinese tourists from Karon and was taking them across to the eastern side of Phuket.

More than 20 injured tourists and two Thais - the driver and a guide - were taken to the large public Vachira Phuket Hospital and two private hospitals, Phuket International Hospital and Bangkok Hospital Phuket, in Phuket City.

Nine injured in Vachira Phuket, including eight women, were not critical, a hospital spokesperson said. More serious cases are believed to have been ferried to the private hospitals.

One woman died in hospital and the condition of the Thai driver is believed to be critical.

Emergency workers reopened one side of the road to traffic before 11am but there were long delays and police advised motorists to take alternative routes through Rawai or Patong.

A large mobile crane was being used to bring the bus that crashed off the road back from the jungle. It finished about 40 metres down the hillside, caught in trees.

The driver of an empty bus bound for Karon, on Phuket's west coast, tried to ease past official barriers, but broke down when the bus struck live powerlines.

A sign on the side of that bus says 'CWT Day Way Best Service.' The driver has been named as Sutad Oipen.

A bus crash in March on Phuket's other steep and dangerous road, across Patong Hill, killed one person and injured scores of others.

Phuket police are still looking for the driver, Yongyot ''Nuan'' Jantip, from Trang, who fled and has not been seen since.