Missing monk found dead in PSU lagoon
KATHU: Police are treating as a case of accidental drowning the death of a monk whose body was found in a pond at the Phuket campus of Prince of Songkla University on Sunday.
Maj Passakorn Sonthikun of the Tung Tong Police identified the monk as Phra Thawat Theerawiniyo.
The body of the 29-year-old monk, originally from Nongkhai province, was discovered by a female university student about 1 pm, he said.
The same student said that she saw a man swimming naked in the pond on Friday afternoon, but was not sure whether the body was that of the same person.
Phra Thawat, known as Thawat Sansup before his ordination, had been a monk at Wat Pa Aram, near Mission Hospital on Thepkrasattri Rd, for about two months, he said.
K. Thawat was apparently an itinerant monk who moved from temple to temple, practicing solitary meditation before moving on.
His body was recovered by a Kusoldharm Foundation volunteer and had been sent to Patong Hospital for examination, Maj Passakorn said.
An initial examination failed to find any wounds or other evidence of violence or struggle, he added.
