Student pharmacist dies from overdose

PATONG: Police believe that a 19-year-old pharmacology student on holiday in Phuket committed suicide by overdosing on barbiturates in a hotel room in Patong.

Alongkorn Pitaktrirat, of Nakhon Ratchasima, had been dead for around two days when his body was found on Wednesday at the Baan Bua Hotel, where he was staying.

Pol Lt Padungpong Duksukaew, of Kathu Police Station, said that officers, summoned by hotel staff, found K. Alongkorn’s body lying on the bed with dried blood around his nose and mouth.

The television was on and the air-conditioning unit was running, and officers found three boxes of Nembutal nearby, two of which had been opened.

Lt Padungpong said, “Nembutal can make people unconscious by suppressing their breathing. The label warns that taking too many may cause death.”

He said that K. Alongkorn had been a student in the faculty of pharmacology at Silpakorn University, in Bangkok. He said, “His parents said his studies were going well, but he always kept problems to himself.”

The cause of the suicide was a private matter, said Lt Padungpong, but he added, “We found a letter in his room saying he had had enough of living.”