Thai fisherman sees South Korean discard cash, jump into river

A resident in the northern province of Chiang Mai discovered the body of a South Korean man in the Ping River after he scattered cash and jumped into the water in front of a Thai fisherman on Sunday.

A fisherman alerted officers from Chang Phueak Police Station after seeing a foreigner, later identified as 44 year old South Korean man Wonchang Song, drown in the Ping River on Sunday, August 11. Officers coordinated with the Chiang Mai Municipal Water Rescue Centre to search for Wonchang.

The fisherman told police that the South Korean man arrived at the scene by tuk tuk. He walked straight to the river bank, took off his clothes leaving only his underwear, pulled a laptop from his backpack, damaged it, threw cash around and walked into the river with the damaged laptop in his hand.

Wonchang floated along the strong current and disappeared before the fishermen’s eyes. His clothes, shoes, bag and some South Korean won were found on the bank.

Rescuers searched for the South Korean for 12 hours but could not locate him, so the search was called off. A local man later found Wonchang’s body in the river at around 2pm yesterday, August 12.

His body was found 1 kilometre from where he jumped. An initial autopsy revealed that Wonchang had no wounds or signs of struggle. Officials concluded that the South Korean man committed suicide due to stress and personal problems.

In a similar report in May, the body of a Thai woman was found in a rider in the central province of Prachinburi after she abandoned her motorcycle on a bridge and jumped into the rider. Her suicide was reportedly motivated by depression over her difficult life following the loss of her parents and her battle with epilepsy.

Another similar story was reported in November last year when a 14 year old Thai girl decided to commit suicide by jumping into the Chao Phraya River. Her father revealed to the media that the girl was repeatedly raped by her 72 year old grandfather-in-law since she was six years old.

If you or anyone you know is in emotional distress, please get in touch with the Samaritans of Thailand 24-hour hotline: 02 713 6791 (English), 02 713 6793 (Thai), or the Thai Mental Health Hotline at 1323 (Thai). Please also contact your friends or relatives at this time if you have feelings of loneliness, stress, or depression. Seek help.