BANGKOK 

Two tourists thought to be British - a man and a woman - were found dead Monday on an island beach popular with tourists in southern Thailand.

Police told local media that both were discovered naked with deep head wounds on Koh Tao island - one of Thailand’s most popular dive spots - and they suspect there may have been a sexual motive.

Investigators said a blood stained hoe and the clothes of the two victims were found nearby, adding that a party is understood to have been held in the area on Sunday night, about 100 meters from where the bodies were found.

The British foreign office said in a statement early Monday that they are investigating the reports,

The man and woman's identity has not been made public.

Provincial police chief General Punya Mamun told The Nation newspaper Monday that it is believed the two were murdered, and a hunt for those responsible has been launched across the small island.

Although tourist murders are rare in Thailand - an extremely popular tourist destination - two Thai men raped and killed a 21-year-old British tourist on a beach in the nearby island of Koh Samui - Koh Tao's larger cousin - in January 2006.

In 2007, two young female tourists were murdered on a beach in Pattaya on the country’s eastern seaboard and in January 2009 a German woman was killed by a Thai man on Koh Phang-ngan - an island in the south famous for its "Full-moon parties." In May of the same year, a Swiss woman was robbed and strangled on a beach in Krabi province. 

To safeguard travellers, the Thai junta - which seized power May 22 - has launched women-and children-only carriages on main routes on the country's rail network nationwide after a 13-year-old girl was raped and killed in her berth on an overnight train in July.

* Anadolu Agency correspondent Gokhan Kurtaran contributed to this report from London England

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