French expat, 26, found hanged in Phuket

PHUKET: The body of a 26-year-old French expat was found hanging in a rented Rawai house on Tuesday.

Chalong Police and Ruamjai Foundation rescue workers were notified of the death at about 4:30pm, after the owner of the house had entered the building to investigate a stench that was disturbing neighbors.

“Officers on duty found the body of the foreigner sitting inside, next to the front door. He was hanging by the neck from a phone line attached to a steal bar running across the top of the door,” Chalong Police Capt Thada Sodarak said.

“We believe he had been dead for more than seven days,” Capt Thada added.

Kwanta Haimuang, the landlord, told police that the man* had been renting the house from her for about one year and that he lived alone.

“Sometimes his mother came to visit him. She was last here during Songkran,” Mrs Kwanta said.

“After his mother left, he travelled as usual. Sometimes he didn’t come back to the house for several days,” she explained.

“Nobody knew when he was staying or leaving, because he was always going out and wasn’t working,” she added.

Ruamjai Foundation rescue workers transported the body to Vachira Phuket Hospital.

* The Gazette does not release names until next of kin have been notified.

— Kritsada Mueanhawong