"I didn't expect this incident would happen," Thaksin was quoted by the Thai News Agency (TNA) as telling reporters on the chartered plane as he headed for the United Kingdom.

"I was prime minister when I came, and I was jobless on the way back," he told TNA, in his first remarks to reporters since being overthrown.

"I volunteered to work for the country - [but] if they don't want me to do that - I won't," he reportedly said.

Thaksin was in New York to attend a meeting of the UN General Assembly when military leaders staged the coup late on Tuesday. He left on Wednesday for London, where he maintains a residence and where he was expected to meet with his family, amid growing speculation that he might seek a political exile there.

"I was in contact with my family the entire time this was happening, and I was also in contact with the military," he told TNA.

However, the former PM was silent on whether he would seek exile in England after he and a small number of accompanying ministers arrived in London. His wife Pojaman reportedly flew from Bangkok to Singapore on Monday with ousted PM's Office Minister Newin Chidchob, and from there both took a flight to London to wait for Thaksin.

Apparently accepting defeat, Thaksin left on a Thai Royal Air Force plane for London with Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai, spokesman Surapong Suebwonglee, his personal assistant Padung Limcharoenrat, deputy commander of the Special Branch Maj-General Atthasit Thareechatra and secretary to the ousted prime minister, Maris Cheysanguan.

Thaksin's chief adviser, Pansak Vinyaratn, who has had several direct experiences with coups under other former Thai prime ministers, was not seen on the flight to London with Thaksin.

At first, Thaksin reportedly wanted to fly to London by a chartered Russian flight, but later changed his plan and flew in the Air Force plane.

Yesterday morning Thaksin and his close aides held an intense discussion in his hotel room at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York about the situation in Thailand. They were briefed regularly by someone calling from Bangkok and monitored the developments on CNN.

Holed up in the plush New York hotel, Thaksin could do little but watch his own apparent downfall on television. As tanks rumbled through Bangkok's streets, he huddled with top aides in the luxurious, 1,400-room Grand Hyatt in the bustling heart of Manhattan.

Cut off, 11 times zones from home, and with his political fate hanging by a thread, Thaksin launched a desperate, cross-continental rearguard action. But as the coup reached a climax, his aides in New York admitted they were losing touch.

In an ironic twist, the man who made billions from telecommunications could not phone home. Troops had seized government communications lines, a Thai official said on condition of anonymity.

"It is very difficult to communicate with people, to get to know the exact situation there," the official said.

Thaksin tried to get access to TV Pool to declare a state of emergency and announce the removal of the Army chief, but he was only able to get Channel 9's cooperation.

"TV Pool denied him the signal, and he looked very testy and his face told all," a source close to him said.

An initial attempt to get iTV on board seemed promising, but due to some unexplained problems his former TV station could not serve as a broadcast outlet for his crucial announcements. In the end, he could only rely on Channel 9. When broadcast was done and he was about to finish reading his third announcement, he saw the writing on the wall.

As messages flashed across television screens in Thailand declaring martial law in Bangkok, defiant Thaksin aides insisted he would not relinquish power.

"The prime minister is quite calm," a senior official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"He watched President George W Bush speak at the UN General Assembly from his hotel room," the official said.

As United States' news networks bracketed Bush's speech with pictures of military personnel carriers rolling through the streets of Bangkok, Thaksin can hardly have avoided also witnessing the political earthquake back home.

"He feels he is the elected prime minister and he would like to safeguard the Constitution of the country," the official told AFP.

During that time, he tried to call his Cabinet members, but only managed to get through to former Natural Resources and Environment Minister Yongyuth Tiyapairat, another source told The Nation.

Thaksin aides, meanwhile, hurried to rewrite his speech to the General Assembly - brought forward from Wednesday to about 6pm Bangkok time on Tuesday because of the fast-moving crisis in Bangkok.

In the Grand Hyatt lobby, journalists and a few expat Thais gathered, desperate to learn Thaksin's fate. Elsewhere, the bustle of New York life went on undisturbed.

Outside the UN, meanwhile, anti-Thaksin demonstrators gathered, chanting "Thaksin go to hell".

"We normally don't like coups," said 48-year-old Chanyute Oottamakorn, a New York City employee originally from Nakhon Sri Thammarat. "But this time we welcome it. We needed it because he's so stubborn," he said.

"We are happy," said another protester, a woman in her 50s who declined to give her name. She described Thaksin's regime as a corrupt group of liars.

Confusion reigned at the Thai embassy in Washington, DC. "We are watching it on CNN," an official said.

Finally, Thaksin's speech at the UN General Assembly was cancelled as the coup reached a global audience, putting him and the delegates in an awkward position.

Thaksin sensed that something was seriously wrong when he discovered that the man who ended up leading the coup, General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, did not show up for a Cabinet meeting via teleconference. The Army chief was reportedly playing golf with other coup plotters.

Shortly after that, Thaksin tried to appoint Supreme Commander General Ruengroj Mahasaranond to the post of Army chief. At about 9pm Bangkok time, reporters were summoned to his room. They sat and listened as he called Bangkok to declare a state of emergency. His voice was shaky and almost choked with emotion.

According to another report, the latest effort to contain Thaksin involves revoking the ousted premier's travel document.

The idea was to force him to stay in one place, and bar him from moving around to drum up support.

The Nation, Agencies