Swiss man falls to his death in Phuket

PHUKET: A Swiss man fell to his death from the third-floor balcony of his home on a Patong hillside this morning.

The man was living in a rented home on Phisit Gorani Rd, Soi 1 in Patong, not far from Suwankhiriwong Temple, at the time of his death.

The man’s live-in Thai girlfriend, a woman of about 30 years old who asked to be identified only as “Piyamas”, said the fall happened at about 9am today.

“We were having a chat as I was cooking in the kitchen, then he walked over to the balcony. Suddenly he went quiet, then I heard a scream. I ran out to the balcony and saw him lying on the ground below, then I rushed down to where he fell and cradled his head on my lap,” she said.

The plunge did not kill the Swiss immediately, she told the Gazette two hours after the fall.

“It took about twenty minutes before an ambulance came, even though Patong Hospital is nearby. He was still breathing until about 10 minutes before it arrived. It looked like he broke his arm. There wasn’t much blood on his face,” she said, still clearly upset from the tragedy.

The deceased, listed as a resident of Stafa municipality in Switzerland, once had an operation for a heart condition, she said.

Although there were no signs of foul play, Forensics Police dusted the ceramic tiles at the top of the balcony enclosure for fingerprints.

The distance of the drop was equivalent to about a four-story fall due to the way the home was constructed into the hillside. The deceased landed in a grassy area below.

“He liked to admire the view from the balcony. There is a small creek below. I always told him not to walk around alone on the balcony when I was doing the housework. It always looked unsafe to me. I always felt dizzy looking down from there,” she said.

The couple had been living together for about two months in the 20,000-baht-per-month house, she said.

The man’s body is being held in the Patong Hospital morgue.

The man was still legally married to a woman in Germany, with whom he had two children, she said.

Ms. Piyamas said she would inform the family of the tragedy.

The name of the deceased will be withheld pending notification of kin.

— Atchaa Khamlo