Phuket heartbreak as young Aussie tourist found dead in hotel
Second Australian holidaymaker dies suddenly on island as police race for answers
A 21 year old Australian man has been found dead in a Phuket hotel room, just five days after an accused rapist from Down Under was also discovered lifeless on the same Thai island.
Police in Thalang, northern Phuket, are investigating the sudden death of a young Aussie traveller who was found dead in his hotel room yesterday, July 23, just one day before he was due to return home.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Thanom Thongpaen of Thalang Police Station said he was informed by a nurse at Thalang Hospital around 10am that a foreign national had died at a hotel in Tambon Thepkrasattri.
Ahmad Akouch had checked in to The Rubber Hotel on July 20 and was due to check out today, July 24. His Australian passport stated that he was born in Bhanin, Lebanon.
Officers arrived to find the body lying on the bed. He was wearing a black T-shirt and still holding his mobile phone. There were no signs of forced entry or struggle, and no visible injuries suggesting foul play.
However, police noted that the man’s elbow and wrist were bandaged, reportedly from a recent motorbike accident, according to his friends.
A forensic doctor was called to the scene and the body was taken to Vachira Phuket Hospital for post-mortem examination.
The Australian Consulate has been informed. The cause of death is yet to be determined, and investigations are ongoing.
His death comes less than a week after the body of Kevin Steven Correll was discovered in a Patong hotel on July 18.
The 69 year old had long been the prime suspect in the 2001 killing of 23 year old Rachelle Childs, a car saleswoman whose naked, partially burned body was found dumped in bushland near Gerroa, south of Sydney.
She had likely been smothered or strangled, and doused in unleaded petrol in a botched attempt to destroy DNA evidence.
Although he was never charged, detectives strongly believed Correll was behind the brutal murder. Now, with his death, the Childs family have been denied a day in court.
Thai police have described the circumstances around Correll’s death as “a mystery.”
With two Australian deaths in under a week, Phuket’s party island reputation has taken a dark turn and police are under growing pressure to uncover what’s going on.
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