Man believed to have died of a drug overdose on Patong Beach
Just off Bangla Road, a man was found unresponsive on Patong Beach and died of what authorities believe to be a drug overdose. The man was found unconscious on the beach last night at around 10.15pm, only 200 metres south of the police box at the end of the popular party street, with a small bag of red pills laying beside his body.
Rescue workers from the Kusoldharm Foundation’s Patong branch arrived at the beach where crowds had already gathered around the lifeless man. The victim’s identity was not revealed as it has yet to be confirmed. He was described as a skinny Asian man wearing a black t-shirt and black jeans, with many tattoos on his upper arms and across his torso. Medics assessed the man to be in his thirties.
The man was originally unconscious and unresponsive on top of the stack of beach loungers before the rescue workers moved him to the ground in the sand to check if he was still alive. A British man who volunteers with the rescue crew administered CPR to the lifeless body while an ambulance was on its way.
But it was no use, when the ambulance got to Patong Hospital, the man was pronounced dead on arrival. The suspected cause of death is an overdose of an unconfirmed drug.
A rescue team volunteer commented that the man’s life could have been saved if someone had found him sooner and administered CPR. He urged anyone who encountered someone in need of immediate medical help to call 1669, Thailand’s national emergency hotline, and asked told people not to be afraid of attempting CPR on someone in urgent need.
The advice came after an Australian tourist saved the life of a British man, who had a heart attack and collapsed on Patong Beach, not far from where the suspected drug overdose occurred last night. That tourist managed to revive the British man and keep him alive by performing CPR for 15 minutes until an ambulance got there. He received a Certificate of Commendation from Australia’s Consul-General in Phuket for his heroics.
SOURCE: The Phuket News
