PHUKET: A Russian man who stayed in his hotel room drinking heavily was found dead beside a building at a beachfront resort in Karon yesterday (May 29), apparently after jumping from his fourth-floor hotel room.
Tourist Police inspect the room where the man was staying. Photo: Karon Police
Officers from the Karon Police and Phuket Tourist Police were called to the hotel at about 2:40pm.
The man’s wife told police that she and her husband had arrived in Phuket on holiday on May 22.
However, during their holiday the man stayed in their room, drinking heavily. He did not even let the hotel maid into the room for cleaning, except for cleaning the toilet and changing the towels, she said.
The wife said they had planned to go on a day trip to Phang Nga on Sunday, but her husband was too drunk, so she went alone.
When she returned to the room, she found that he had a wound on his forehead and was drunk, so she put a towel on his cut. She told him to stop drinking, but he did not, police explained.
The wife said she wanted to move to a different, separate, room but the price was too high.
The wife said she went out for breakfast yesterday morning and brought some food back to the room for her husband.
After that, she went to a market, returned to the room to get changed, and went to the beach. She asked him to go to the beach with her, but he declined.
The wife said she again asked him to stop drinking and even threatened to throw the bottles of alcohol away, which made him angry.
By the time she returned from the beach, a team of emergency responders was already attending to her husband’s body. She was told that he apparently had jumped from the building.
Hotel staff had found his body and called the police.
Police reported that officers found a chair on the balcony, next to the wall where he jumped.
Officers found no signs of a struggle in the room and no belongings were reported as missing. The man’s phone was still sitting on a chair in the room recharging.
Police have yet to formally record the man’s death as a suicide. However, his body was taken to Vachira Phuket Hospital for post-mortem examination and Russian embassy representatives have been informed of his death, police said.
If you or anyone you know is in need of emotional support and counselling, please contact the Samaritans of Thailand at their 24-hour hotline 02-113-6789 (English & Thai) or the Thai Mental Health Hotline at 1323 (Thai).
