UPDATE: Hospital staff confirmed on Tuesday morning (July 11) that the boy was 10 years old, and that his father had also died from his injuries. See the updated story here.
The bus was carrying 36 passengers when it failed to stop and crashed at the bottom of the hill, just past Wat Patong, just before 11pm.
The bus was carrying 31 Chinese tourists back to their hotel in Patong at the time of the accident. Initial reports indicate that 25 people were injured in the crash.
The lone fatality so far has been confirmed as a 12-year-old boy.
The driver, who has yet to be name, was taken into custody for questioning by Lt Col Pattapee Srichai, Deputy Superintendent of the Patong Police.
The tour bus crash is the second on Patong Hill in less than two weeks after the brakes failed on a bus carrying Chinese tourists slammed into a concrete wall built in front of a house to stop runaway vehicles from plioughing into the home on June 30.
That crash left one person dead and 26 more injured, with the Patong Police Chief vowing to take legal action against the driver and the company responsible for the roadworthy condition of the bus. (See story here.)