Kazakhstani tourist dies after falling from Phuket hotel

PHUKET: A Kazakhstani tourist died after falling from the balcony of a 5th floor hotel room in Patong early this morning.

Patong Police Chief Lt Col Weerapong Rakhito received reports of the incident at about 4am from the D1 Hotel on Phra Metta Road.

“We arrived to find the 42-year-old man still alive, lying face up on the asphalt with a bone sticking out of his right leg. The left side of his face was crushed,” confirmed the colonel. “Rescue workers performed CPR at the scene and took him to Patong Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.”

Hotel staff unlocked his room for the police to inspect it for clues as to what happened and found no signs of struggle or ransacking.

“We found 12 empty bottles of Thai rum and 3 empty beer cans, in addition to several other wines and even more empty alcohol bottles. The door to the balcony was open. Hotel staff told us that he had checked into the hotel alone last Monday, and only went to the supermarket for food and alcohol. His checkout date was December 16.”

Police also checked the logs of his keycard with hotel staff, finding the last scan at about 2:30am.

“We have yet to learn whether it was his intention to jump or not. We are working closely with the Kazakhstan Embassy to investigate his death and communicate with his relatives.”

On November 24, he updated his Facebook with a post translating to: “Dear Santa, I’m all year behaved well, [so] give me a trip to Thailand, so a couple of weeks to behave badly.”

Additional reporting by Zohaib Sikander.

— Kritsada Mueanhawong