One Indian tourist has died and three others were hospitalised after four men suddenly lost consciousness at a cafe near Kamala Beach in Phuket during the early hours of 9 May.

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Police at Kamala Police Station said the incident was reported at 2.05am on 9 May. Emergency responders from Kamala Subdistrict Administration Organisation transported three unconscious men to Patong Hospital and one to Thalang Hospital after they collapsed inside a well-known cafe in Kamala, Kathu district.

Investigators later identified the group as five Indian tourists: Mr Kushagra Agarwal, Mr Rahul Agrawal, another Mr Rahul Agrawal with the same name and surname, Mr Agarwal Aman, and Mr Aryan Verma. According to the cafe’s head security guard, the group arrived at the venue at about 11pm on 8 May 2026.

At around 1.54am, four members of the group reportedly began losing consciousness one after another for unknown reasons. Staff immediately contacted emergency services while Mr Aryan Verma was said to have shown no symptoms.

Police informed Pol Col Anurak Parinyasthirakul, superintendent of Kamala Police Station, who travelled to Patong Hospital where three Indian nationals remained unconscious and unable to give statements. Officers later visited Thalang Hospital where the fourth man was also unconscious.

Doctors at Patong Hospital later transferred two critically ill patients, Mr Kushagra Agarwal and Mr Rahul Agrawal, to Vachira Phuket Hospital after both fell into a coma. Authorities confirmed that Mr Kushagra Agarwal died later that day at about 2.30pm.

The remaining patients were later reported to be in a safe and stable condition. Police have not yet confirmed the cause of the mass collapse and are continuing their investigation.

Thai authorities have coordinated with the Indian Embassy while forensic specialists conduct a detailed post-mortem examination to determine the exact cause of death. Officers are also expected to examine evidence from the cafe and interview witnesses as part of the ongoing inquiry.

Amarin reported that the incident has drawn attention due to the unusual circumstances surrounding four people collapsing within minutes of each other while another member of the group remained unaffected. No further official findings have yet been released.

Picture courtesy of Amarin

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Adapted by ASEAN Now Amarin 11 May 2026

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There a good while, 3 hours.

I see all the social media news outlets are running this story but none of the mention the cafe or bar where this happened, so what do we do? avoid Kamala altogether? This is what happens when you share one coke and five straws, I knew it would catch up with them one day,

Edited May 10May 10 by ChipButty

Odds are some bad drugs involved.

6 minutes ago, blaze master said:

Odds are some bad drugs involved.

Or some dodgy alcohol,

3 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

Or some dodgy alcohol,

Some bad Lao kao possibly passed off as something else in a mixer.

very intriguing case

Would be interesting to know if there was a family relationship between any of the victims

Edited May 11May 11 by Gecko123

Reckon the guy who showed no symptoms spiked his friends drinks with something thinking it would be funny and he messed up the amount he put in the drinks or it wasn't what he thought it was that he used.

Rightly or wrongly the guy who suffered no ill effects will be a suspect.

7 minutes ago, ronster said:

Reckon the guy who showed no symptoms spiked his friends drinks with something thinking it would be funny and he messed up the amount he put in the drinks or it wasn't what he thought it was that he used.

Thing is, what kind of substance could you put in your traveling companions' drink which would later be seen as humorous by one and all?

I'm thinking about potential financial motives, and am intrigued by the possibility of potential inheritance, financial, or business related motives back home. Choosing a night life* venue for crime allows for deflection that they were drugged by bar girl, and, in the mind of criminally unsophisticated culprit, offers the hope that the crime would be poorly investigated in Thailand, and potential motives back home wouldn't be uncovered.

*Edit correction: original post incorrectly said incident occurred in Pattaya.

Edited May 11May 11 by Gecko123

They should name the place the group was drinking at?

3 minutes ago, NemoH said:

They should name the place the group was drinking at?

Do we just avoid the whole of Kamala?

looking at the reports, it’s probably because the incident didn’t actually happen inside a café at all.

Most of the coverage says the tourist collapsed after attending the Electric Daisy Carnival Thailand 2026 festival in Cherng Talay, Phuket. The reports mention him later being found behaving erratically near parked vehicles around Wat Somphan Rang / Bandon–Choeng Thale Road before being taken to Thalang Hospital.

None of the mainstream reports I could find mention a café name. In Thailand, especially Phuket, media often avoid naming smaller businesses unless:

• the venue is directly implicated,

• police formally identify it,

• or there’s a major public safety issue.

There’s also the possibility lawyers or police requested outlets not identify a private business while the autopsy/investigation is ongoing. Thai media can be quite cautious with that.

Another thing: sometimes social media posts add details like “collapsed at a café” that never appeared in the police reports, and then it spreads as fact.

At the moment, the consistent location in reporting is:

• EDC festival area in Cherng Talay

• nearby roadside/parking area near Wat Somphan Rang

• then Thalang Hospital for treatment.

I'm guessing it was the coffee. Never heard of a double shot short black.

9 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

Do we just avoid the whole of Kamala?

I reckon thats how I will roll.

13 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

Do we just avoid the whole of Kamala?

It's only a model.

Sounds like this was a beach club more than a cafe... which is kind of concerning considering it's a pretty mainstream venue in Phuket if this is where it happened. Possible reasons: they all took drugs other than the one guy, someone spiked their drink and they shared, or fake alcohol... hopefully it's the first option, as the other two would be a lot more concerning.

38 minutes ago, NemoH said:

They should name the place the group was drinking at?

The euphemism of a “well known cafe” in Kamala actually pretty much identifies it. There’s not that many cafes open at 2am in the morning, so perhaps if you do a google internet search using Cafe as a name, not a type of business, like “late night places called Cafe in Kamala Phuket” and see what comes up…

When I did, the immediate place I thought it would be was the first in the list Google came up with…

52 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

looking at the reports, it’s probably because the incident didn’t actually happen inside a café at all.

Most of the coverage says the tourist collapsed after attending the Electric Daisy Carnival Thailand 2026 festival in Cherng Talay, Phuket. The reports mention him later being found behaving erratically near parked vehicles around Wat Somphan Rang / Bandon–Choeng Thale Road before being taken to Thalang Hospital.

None of the mainstream reports I could find mention a café name. In Thailand, especially Phuket, media often avoid naming smaller businesses unless:

• the venue is directly implicated,

• police formally identify it,

• or there’s a major public safety issue.

There’s also the possibility lawyers or police requested outlets not identify a private business while the autopsy/investigation is ongoing. Thai media can be quite cautious with that.

Another thing: sometimes social media posts add details like “collapsed at a café” that never appeared in the police reports, and then it spreads as fact.

At the moment, the consistent location in reporting is:

• EDC festival area in Cherng Talay

• nearby roadside/parking area near Wat Somphan Rang

• then Thalang Hospital for treatment.

EDC was two months ago?

2 hours ago, ChipButty said:

I see all the social media news outlets are running this story but none of the mention the cafe or bar where this happened, so what do we do? avoid Kamala altogether? This is what happens when you share one coke and five straws, I knew it would catch up with them one day,

They were probably taking bumps of heroin before they entered the place

4 hours ago, Georgealbert said:

At around 1.54am, four members of the group reportedly began losing consciousness one after another for unknown reasons

Questionable "Peruvian Marching Powder." We had some of that kill a Brit couple a few months back.

2 minutes ago, connda said:

Questionable "Peruvian Marching Powder." We had some of that kill a Brit couple a few months back.

You mean they were sold K but it was H or F ?

1 hour ago, ronster said:

Reckon the guy who showed no symptoms spiked his friends drinks with something thinking it would be funny and he messed up the amount he put in the drinks or it wasn't what he thought it was that he used.

Or maybe a teetotaller.

Sounds like fentanyl. Either they had their drink spiked, or they thought they were taking ecstasy, but it was really fentanyl.

That stuff is bad news and Thailand has become a transit country for smuggling the stuff out to the West.

1 hour ago, NemoH said:

They should name the place the group was drinking at?

No, not yet. It may not have anything to do with the establisment.

37 minutes ago, CLW said:

You mean they were sold K but it was H or F ?

Your speculation that they may have been sold bad drugs is causing me to think that hard narcotics are far more available these days in Thailand party destinations than I realized. Is this true?

@Iron Tongue

4 hours ago, ChipButty said:

I see all the social media news outlets are running this story but none of the mention the cafe or bar where this happened, so what do we do? avoid Kamala altogether? This is what happens when you share one coke and five straws, I knew it would catch up with them one day,

Where does it say they were sharing one coke and five straws? As for not naming the venue yes, it now might make everyone want to avoid every similar place. Brilliant (sarcasm alert).

47 minutes ago, JJ-Thailand said:

No, not yet. It may not have anything to do with the establisment.

the name of the "cafe" can be seen in the latest photos

Given the location, my money would be on the so-called "Happy Water" - a dangerous, illegal drug cocktail, typically consisting of several different synthetic drugs and stimulants mixed together.

..Just my 2 satang.

Off topic posts about EDC removed.