21-year-old Australian tourist falls from hotel to his death in Patong, Phuket

[sawadee1947]

11 hours ago, aussienam said:

Balcony rails are way too low here.  I've been drunk before and felt very uneasy and unsafe.  I can see how easy it is to fall.  Thai safety standards are woefully inadequate/non-existent.  Death traps everywhere. 

That might be right.

However, you know where you are going for Holidays. And you should inform yourself about your Holiday country prior your booking.

If it's not fulfilling your personal requirements..... don't go.

 

[2 is 1]

1 hour ago, grubman said:

Maybe the bottles were of different kinds of Whiskey, and he have indulged having different drinks during his stay in the hotel room, I know when i have a few drink i don't drink a whole bottle and have a few different half empty bottles of whiskey in my house, its not a strange to have half empty bottles

 

Maybe some of you guys drink the whole bottle at once ????

Yeah i dont empty my Louis XIII whit one sip! Strange if really come whit 11 friends that they not share room. Normaly in that age want save money and one cost is room.

RIP young lad

[Jimbo53]

R.I.P. Cobber ????

[KarenBravo]

4 hours ago, ChrisY1 said:

Young guy wouldn't buy "several" bottles of Thai <deleted>.....maybe one...unless there were others there in the room.

That maybe true, but how do you know that there was another person in the room at the time he fell? Much more likely that if someone else had been in the room drinking with him, it was at another time.

 

Your post illustrates very well the danger of armchair detectives who always pick the most fantastical theories.

[KarenBravo]

1 hour ago, shackleton said:

Story mentioned 21 years old must be more to this story than drink involved 

Seems pretty young to be falling our of a hotel room

Usually Condos involved 

RIP 

No, young people think they're bullet-proof. Age brings more caution.

[spidermike007]

Poorly engineered and built railings on many balconies here. So, does a low railing and intoxication add up to suicide, or are they afraid to say this was an accident? If it was an accident, perhaps someone would have to take responsibility for it? Or was it something else, just like the David Carradine suicide, was likely something else? 

[KarenBravo]

1 hour ago, shackleton said:

Story mentioned 21 years old must be more to this story than drink involved 

Seems pretty young to be falling our of a hotel room

Usually Condos involved 

RIP 

Looks to me that the hotel is exactly the same building style as a condo.

What physical difference do you see?

[richard_smith237]

1 hour ago, bbko said:

Photo from the link shows only 2 bottles of different brands, and one almost full, and his wallet still has money.  People try to read too much into a story.

Looks like a 50cl Jim Bean and a 30cl Sang Som....  Hardy ‘several bottles’.... the report itself seems  deliberately misleading.

 

I hope that CCTV from the hotel can confirm whether he was alone or not.

 

[richard_smith237]

1 hour ago, RafPinto said:

Who puts slippers on top of the table?

A 21 year old falls off a balcony and your take away from this is that he had his Birkenstocks on the table ?

[richard_smith237]

21 minutes ago, sawadee1947 said:

That might be right.

However, you know where you are going for Holidays. And you should inform yourself about your Holiday country prior your booking.

If it's not fulfilling your personal requirements..... don't go.

 

Sanctimonious twaddle....   At 21 years old did you ever fully inform yourselves about your destination country?

 

Where do you go to get informed ?....   which travel advice do you trust ?...   comb through this forum?

Aus Government travel advice ?..  where are travellers warned about low railings ?

 

 

Anything about balconies here ??? 

https://www.smartraveller.gov.au/destinations/asia/thailand

[ThailandRyan]

19 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Looks like a 50cl Jim Bean and a 30cl Sang Som....  Hardy ‘several bottles’.... the report itself seems  deliberately misleading.

 

I hope that CCTV from the hotel can confirm whether he was alone or not.

 

The way the bottles sit one wonders if it was not part of a mini bar purchase.  Staying in Phuket at the Marriot Hotel a few weeks ago you could purchase 2 bottles of whisky and a few bottles of mixer.

[richard_smith237]

13 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

The way the bottles sit one wonders if it was not part of a mini bar purchase.  Staying in Phuket at the Marriot Hotel a few weeks ago you could purchase 2 bottles of whisky and a few bottles of mixer.

Possibly both there as part of the mini-bar...  a lot of Mini-Bar’s include a the 30cl and 50cl bottles perhaps even couple of ‘min-wine’ bottle (red / white) and a mini-vodka and a few beers... 

 

The inclusion of the whisky in the article is manipulative...  and encourages the reader to push the perception of blame to the deceased being so drunk he fell off the balcony rather than looking at the fact that the balcony itself may be dangerous and an unaware youngster simply got caught out. 

 

 

 

 

 

[proton]

Thailand pass-away, ????

[mogandave]

I’ve been to quite a number of hotels and condos here, and have never noticed any balcony railings that looked dangerously low to me.

 

Not judging anyone, but I think people generally fall as a result of either climbing or sitting on the railing, or of the railing failing. 

 

A tragedy in any event, I can’t even imagine the father’s suffering.

 

RIP young man, I hope you loved and were loved. 

[ThailandRyan]

8 minutes ago, mogandave said:

I’ve been to quite a number of hotels and condos here, and have never noticed any balcony railings that looked dangerously low to me.

 

Not judging anyone, but I think people generally fall as a result of either climbing or sitting on the railing, or of the railing failing. 

 

A tragedy in any event, I can’t even imagine the father’s suffering.

 

RIP young man, I hope you loved and were loved. 

Well if your only a little over 5' Tall maybe up to 5'4 then you have no issues with a 40" or so balcony as it would be higher then your waist, possibly up to the midsection like mine was for the GF, but for me it was only up to just below my waist, and why I increased mine so that my height did not land me 45 stories down by an accidental lean over.....

[whereyougo]

12 minutes ago, mogandave said:

I’ve been to quite a number of hotels and condos here, and have never noticed any balcony railings that looked dangerously low to me.

 

Not judging anyone, but I think people generally fall as a result of either climbing or sitting on the railing, or of the railing failing. 

 

A tragedy in any event, I can’t even imagine the father’s suffering.

 

RIP young man, I hope you loved and were loved. 

The people on here saying they have seen many are taking about architecture from 50 years ago. Basically they are cheap charlies at the bottom of the rent and hotel class. Newer developments do not have low balconies

[mogandave]

35 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

Well if your only a little over 5' Tall maybe up to 5'4 then you have no issues with a 40" or so balcony as it would be higher then your waist, possibly up to the midsection like mine was for the GF, but for me it was only up to just below my waist, and why I increased mine so that my height did not land me 45 stories down by an accidental lean over.....

I’m 6’ 2”, which puts my center of gravity about an inch and a half over a 40” railing, hardly a hazard. 

 

You’re 5’ 9” yes? So your center of gravity would be about an inch and a half safely below a 40” railing. 

 

The railing is not designed to prevent people from escaping. 

 

In any event, the height of the railing is of no significance if the railing fails, or if someone is sitting or climbing on the railing.

[bbko]

3 hours ago, RafPinto said:

Who puts slippers on top of the table?

A heavily intoxicated person....?

[stephenterry]

A young man on a holiday trip with friends. I hope his father tries to ensure full investigation into his tragic death, to find out what really happened. Up to now it's conjecture.

 

RIP. 

[mogandave]

33 minutes ago, whereyougo said:

The people on here saying they have seen many are taking about architecture from 50 years ago. Basically they are cheap charlies at the bottom of the rent and hotel class. Newer developments do not have low balconies

And why are they afraid they will lean over a railing, accidentally or otherwise? 

 

What does one drop that is worth hanging from the railing to retrive?

 

And of course the all believe that if only the government would mandate railings on balconies be higher, no one would ever fall. 

[brianthainess]

20 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Several bottles of whisky were found on a table, some appearing to have been half-consumed, stated investigators present at the scene.

Nuff said.

[Almer]

14 hours ago, aussienam said:

Sad story.  Balcony rails are way too low here.  I've been drunk before and felt very uneasy and unsafe.  I can see how easy it is to fall.  Thai safety standards are woefully inadequate/non-existent.  Death traps everywhere. 

Compounding the issue is yes there are obvious unfortunate accidents, but homicides seem to be under/improperly investigated and written off far too often.  

Murders do occur here of course and frequently it seems.  Foreigners are easy targets and relatives have little to no influence on pushing investigations further.  

Then, there is corruption as an additional layer of issue where there are cover-ups, altered autopsy/ cause of death reporting, money exchanging hands and apathy. 

 

We can speculate on cause of death. Hopefully there was no foul play and we can accept the police reported version. 

 

Sad and tragic ending for a young guy on vacation.  Poor parents now dealing with grieving of their dead son.  

 

Thailand can be awesome and it is for most.  But it can be incredibly dangerous too.  No second chances when you are dead.  

Agreed, the daughter lives in a condo on floor 26, which has an open kitchen and I get somewhat concerned when I see her on a pair of steps to get to the top shelf, the hand rail between me and death is at the height of my trouser pocket the bottom of the pocket.

[brianthainess]

14 hours ago, aussienam said:

Balcony rails are way too low here.  I've been drunk before and felt very uneasy and unsafe. 

I've been cold stone sober and slipped on wet tiles in bare feet.

[Phuket Stan]

RIP Aussie Man and sympathy to your family and fiends.

It is the last thing parents want to do is bury their offspring

 

Dont take too much notice of the Keyboard Warriors 

 

The baloneys here are very low and it does not take much to trip over

[RJRS1301]

7 hours ago, ChrisY1 said:

Young guy wouldn't buy "several" bottles of Thai <deleted>.....maybe one...unless there were others there in the room.

One was small local whisky,(yuk) partially drank, and larger JB more gone from it, nothing sus two totally different tastes.

 

[Aussieroaming]

RIP to the young fella and condolances to his family. I've got a 21 year old son and I would dread the message his family are going to receive. 

[Hummin]

Hm, 21 year old ozzy drinking wiskey, something is not correct here, was there any coca cola? If so must been thais involved to and he was not alone in the room. 
 

Anyway, 21 year old to young to die in Patong flying off the balcony.
 

Really can not understand people choosing jumping off things as chosen suicide, coming from a former base jumper seen people die in high speed impact several times, and thats not the way to go. But I guess if you so desperate that you are willing to kill yourself, it might have been an impulsive act. There are  better ways to die if you plan to commit  suicide. Just saying without knowing if this was a suicide

[gerritkaew]

Iff you on a Holliday with friends, you go drink together some in the room or talk after about what hapened the evening.

after go back to your own room.

I been going to thailand for some 30 years, every evening drinking and never fall from a balcony or window, and i'm 190 cm.

he must have sit on the railing or so, or must be totaled from the alcohol ?

 

But sad, no second chance jong guy..

R.I.P

[Derek B]

On 5/19/2022 at 7:11 AM, 2long said:

The only thing more dangerous in this country than the roads and women is the balconies!

The Thai balconies seem to be dangerous to mostly non-Thais.

Maybe there should be different building codes for Hotels & Rental Apartments.

[Rimmer]

A not very nice troll comment has been removed