Financial distress prime suspect in Phuket man’s suicide plunge

PHUKET: Police investigating the death of a man whose body was found in the carpark of a public housing estate in Rassada this morning have determined the man leapt to his demise.

Officers were called to the Karn Keha estate near Soi Kingkaew at about 9am.

“We found the body of Pongsak Pitchapan, 47, on the ground in front of the main building,” said Capt Wichat Kongtawai of the Phuket City Police.

“We questioned people in the area, and a street sweeper said he saw the man jumping from the roof.”

Mr Pongsak did not live at the housing estate, but close friend Patchporn Poyord lives nearby.

“We were close friends, but not yet dating,” she said. “Sometimes he would come to visit me.”

Ms Patchporn told police that Mr Pongsak may have been under financial stress.

“He worked at a hotel at Bang Tao and he had his own business,. He told me that he had some money problems connected to his business and that he had been arrested recently,” Ms Patchporn explained.

“I don’t know what kind of trouble he was in, but I think he might have been stressed by his problems.”

— Kritsada Mueanhawong