Thai thief falls between a rock and a hard place

A Thai thief fell into a gap between two buildings yesterday while attempting to escape arrest after breaking into an abandoned bank in the central province of Kanchanaburi.

Mueang Kanchanaburi Police Station officers received a tip-off from a witness that a Thai man, approximately 40 years old, broke into a building that previously operated as a bank. Officers yesterday, August 19, rushed to the scene to apprehend the suspect. Upon investigation, officers found evidence of a break-in and signs of drug use inside the building.

They later located the suspect, who was wearing only jeans, but the man immediately fled upon noticing the police. He ran to the rooftop of the building and attempted to jump onto the roofs of nearby houses.

Unexpectedly, the suspect misjudged a jump, causing him to fall into a gap between two buildings. The gap, which was only 50 centimetres wide, left the suspect injured and trapped.

Officers had to call rescuers from the Phithak Foundation to the scene to assist the suspect. Rescuers tied a rope around the man’s body and managed to pull him out of the narrow gap. The suspect was injured and exhausted, having been stuck there for over an hour.

Rescuers rushed the man to the hospital before transferring him to police custody after his condition improved.

In a similar incident reported last year, the body of a Thai man was found in a small crevice beneath a building in the Isaan province of Khon Kaen after locals in the area noticed an unpleasant smell for a week. Police and rescue teams followed the odour until they discovered the body.

Rescuers faced difficulties retrieving the body because it was bloated and tightly wedged inside. They had to dismantle parts of the building to remove the corpse.

Locals in the area believed that the deceased attempted to steal electric wires, but an electrocution thwarted his plan and led to his death.