Koh Tao businessman announces his suicide, then kills himself
PHOTO: Facebook/Diver Nino
A Koh Tao dive shop and bar owner has broadcast a clip of himself announcing his suicide and then apparently killing himself just minutes before rescuers got to him.
Police and rescuers rushed to a two-storey house at a housing estate in Surat Thani’s Muang district after learning that a man living there might commit suicide. Upon arrival they found the doors and windows locked, and as they yelled for the house owner to come out, they heard a gunshot.
When they broke into the house they found 47 year old Patcharapon Ekpathomsak on the floor with a gunshot wound to his head. He was dressed in biker gear and even wore gloves. In his left hand there was a fabric doll, with a note reading: “Don’t hold any funeral. Just burn my body and throw my gun in water”.
Neighbours said Patcharapon was reserved and did not live in this house. His friends and Netizens noticed that Patcharapon might have been contemplating suicide, because he looked very grim when he went live on Facebook earlier in the day.
Police have now identified Patcharapon as the owner of Alvaro Diving and Pirate Bar on Koh Tao. It is believed that family problems led to him killing himself. Two hours before the apparent suicide he also posted on Pantip.com about family and business problems on the resort island.
Koh Tao has been immeshed in controversy over a litany of mysterious or unsolved murders.
