POLICE are hunting two killers who knifed to death a 60-year-old Perth travel agent in a bag-snatch gone wrong on the Thai holiday island of Phuket last night.

Mother-of-two Michelle Smith, struggled to hold her bag and was slashed with a sharp knife.

A 10cm knife wound to the heart killed her soon after as two men sped off on a motorcycle about 10.30pm local time.

Mrs Smith, who is married with two grown children, Chanelle and Cameron, worked as a senior travel consultant with RAC Travel in Joondalup.

Mrs Smith's husband Geoff told the ABC his wife was a special person and will be sadly missed.

"Bright, sparkly, hard working, a wonderful mother. Loved her job, been in travel for approximately 40 years," he said.

"(I'm) totally devastated. It's a shock. It's not as if she was travelling on her own. She was with a group of agents all together and just unfortunately plucked out of the crowd."

The family are arranging to have her body repatriated as Thai police hunt for the attackers.

Mrs Smith had been walking with a friend, a 42-year-old woman, near their hotel complex in Kata Noi Bay, on Phuket's west coast, about 10.30pm last night when they were attacked by two men who approached on the bike.

The men attempted to steal the women's handbags and lashed out with a knife when they couldn't grab them.

The second woman suffered a slash wound to her arm and was taken to hospital in Phuket, but was allowed to leave early today after receiving stitches.



The wounded woman told police later: "We were walking single-file along the road, coming back from dinner. These guys had gone past a couple of times, and that started to bother us.



"Then I heard a noise behind me and I turned to see what I thought was my friend being pushed in the chest. I tried to help her.



"The men rode off, empty-handed. We started walking again, and only then did we realise we'd both been slashed."



The woman collapsed and died on the road outside the hotel, cut in the heart. Staff rushed to help the other woman.



A DFAT spokesman told PerthNow: “We can confirm the death of a 60-year-old Australian woman from Western Australia in Phuket and are providing consular assistance to her family.



"We are also providing consular assistance to a 42-year-old Australian woman from Western Australia who was injured in the incident.''

Both women were in a group of 10 travel agents from Perth who had arrived on Phuket on Monday to inspect the five-star Katathani Beach Resort, which dominates the small bay at Kata Noi, south of Patong and Karon, on Phuket's west coast.



The group are going to attempt to return to Perth this afternoon.



Prominent Perth travel agent and former WAFL star George Michalczyk, proprietor of Motive Travel, said he understood the travel agents had just completed a hotel inspection and had dinner before the incident occurred on Kata Beach, which was quieter than the main nearby tourist area of Patong.



The offenders had circled the group several times and made the group feel uneasy before he attempted the robbery.



Travelling companion says 'I''m ok'



Perth travel agent Kylie Daff, who is with the group in Phuket, posted on Facebook this morning: "Guys it may have hit local news... I am ok... with a supportive group of people... Can't update further just yet.. will keep post when ok to do so".



Mr Michalczyk said he received a text message early this morning from one of his staff members, who was with the group in Phuket.



"One of my staff is with them," he told 6PR.



"It's just amazing how something can get out of hand like this.



"You would just never ever ever contemplate that something like that would happen."



He said crime such as this was not expected in a place like Phuket.



"To turn around and attack someone so viciously and kill them in the street in front of all this group ... from what I gather, all the staff and all the people in the street were just blown away with what happened.



"Will it scar Phuket? I hope it doesn't."



Jayson Westbury, chief executive of the Federation of Australian Travel Agents, said it was a tragedy.



"Dreadful news for the family, dreadful news for the travel industry here in Australia," Mr Westbury told ABC Radio.



"We're doing everything we can to try and reach out and see if we can assist there."



Read more about Aussie travel agent stabbed in heart on Phuket street at PerthNow.