Builder discovers corpse inside water tank in Bangkok, Thailand

Police are launching a murder investigation after a builder discovered a corpse stuffed into a water tank at a disused building in Bangkok this morning. Doctors estimate that the deceased died six months ago.

At 10:10am, officers from Bangkok’s Hua Mak Police Station travelled to a four-storey building in Ramkhamhaeng Soi 1 in Suan Luang district to investigate the discovery of a body.

At the scene, police found a 1,250-litre water tank without a lid. Inside the tank, police found a human corpse lying face down in 15 centimetres of stagnant water. The body was so decayed that police could not accurately confirm the deceased’s gender.

The corpse was discovered by 35 year old builder Pradit Khonthip and his colleague. Pradit told police that he was hired by a contractor to repair the broken roof at the building.

Pradit first inspected the property on Saturday and returned again today at 9.30am with his colleague to begin work.

The builder noticed a foul smell coming from the water tank and thought it could be a rotting animal carcass. Out of fear, he called his colleague over to inspect the tank together.

Pradit shone a torch into the water tank to discover a decayed human corpse, with tied up long hair, lying face down in “swampy water.” He said the body emitted a terrible smell and was “covered in pus and worms.” He immediately notified his contractor.

Pradit said he has never discovered anything like this and said he didn’t think he would be able to complete the renovation after what he had seen.

The 65 year old owner of the building Charunet Hongsuchon said he bought the building three years ago with the intention of renting it out.

However, Charunet never rented out the property. About six months ago, he contacted contractors about repairing a leak on the fourth floor. The builders completed the job, but never noticed the corpse.

Recently, Charunet contacted the same contractor who hired a different set of builders – including Pradit – to further renovate the property.

While the building went unused for three years, the door was not locked, said police. Police said there could have been homeless people squatting at the property.

Police said the cause of death is hard to determine due to the corpse’s decomposed state. However, it’s unlikely someone managed to crawl into the water tank themselves, so police have launched a murder investigation.