Police deem Frenchman hanged on Koh Tao a suicide

– Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community

PHUKET: Police are treating the death of a 29-year old Frenchman found hanged with his hands tied behind his back on Koh Tao, in Surat Thani, on Thursday as suicide.

The incident has been caused a frenzy on social media as bloggers questioned the circumstances around the tourist’s death.

Police found the body suspended from the ceiling of a bungalow called Ta Chin that he had rented. He wore only traditional red trousers, his hands were loosely bound with a black string and his neck was attached to a beam of a balcony with a black rope.

His neck showed bruising from the rope.

Police found a suicide note on his bed but no trace of fighting or a struggle in the room.

Witnesses said the man went out for a drink with his buddies at a local bar – Next Door – on New Year’s Eve at 5am before moving on to Experience Party where he stayed till 11am. His friends returned to their guesthouses, leaving him drinking alone.

The French suicide note read, “Iris, I love you. Suicide seems easy but it is actually difficult.’

Police and physicians carried out an autopsy and believe that the cause of death was asphyxiation. The case is being treated as a suicide and not homicide.

The corpse has been sent to Koh Tao Temple in Surat Thani’s Koh Pha-ngan district.

— Phuket Gazette Editors