Mystery Surrounds Death Of Swiss Woman Found Floating Off Phuket

[webfact]

Mystery surrounds death of Swiss woman found floating off Phuket

The bungalow resort on Koh Maphrao where Swiss national Ursula Balzan

was staying.

Mrs Balzan often went swimming at one of the beaches nearby. She was

wearing her bathing suit when her body was found.

PHUKET: -- Phuket City Police traveled to Koh Maphrao today to investigate the discovery of a Swiss woman’s body found yesterday in waters off the island’s east coast.

The body was identified as 61-year-old Ursula Balzan by her relatives who lived nearby on Koh Maphrao.

Her neck was broken and there were bruises around her body and mouth.

Officers told the Phuket Gazette that her body was found floating near Koh Mali, a small islet near Koh Maphrao.

Ms Balzan’s sister, Jacqueline Erni, 54, explained the circumstances to the Gazette after being interviewed at Phuket City Police Headquarters today in Phuket Town.

“We were away for a short time and she was staying on the island. On June 15, I gave her a phone call at about 2pm and she said everything was okay. It was the last time I spoke to her,” Mrs Erni said.

“We came back the next day, [yesterday, June 16], at about 3pm. It was strange because normally she feeds the dog but there was no food left out.

“Also, the dog had to be given medicine, but the medicine was still there. We were looking around the house and areas nearby when I got a call saying a body had been found,” she said.

Ms Balzan was retired and lived with the Erni family for a year before moving into her own house about four months ago, Mrs Erni’s daughter, 21-year-old Lee Erni, said.

Their houses are about 50 meters apart, situated among a group of 10 houses on top of a hill, she added.

Staff at the Maphrao Camp Belvedere resort today confirmed to the Gazette that Ms Balzan had stayed at the resort for about 16 months.

Phuket City Police said that Ms Balzan was found in a bathing suit.

En Ruengsamut, a 39-year-old laborer who works at the housing project, said that Ms Balzan regularly went for a swim with the dog about one kilometer from her house, but she did not take the dog on the day she was found.

“Normally she wakes up at about 8am, but on the day she died it was strange because I didn’t see her around her house until noon. I didn’t want to disturb her [in the morning],” Mr En said.

“My friend saw her body while he went out to work on Koh Panyee and he called the [Rassada] municipality. Her body was taken to Vachira Phuket Hospital where it was later identified by her family,” he added.

Mrs Erni remains perplexed by her sister’s death.

“A doctor at Vachira Hospital said that it was strange because she got a very, very hard hit on the head.

“If she hit something hard when she jumped into the water she would have had to jump 20 meters down and hit something heavily,” she suggested to the Gazette.

“Also, we don’t know what time she died, so we will send her body to Surat Thani for an autopsy today or tomorrow, as soon as possible.

“The autopsy will take one day,” Mrs Erni added.

-- Phuket Gazette 2011-06-18

[grumpyoldman]

RIP and condolences to the family

Edited June 18, 2011 by Maestro
Deleted reply to deleted post.

[LivinLOS]

“A doctor at Vachira Hospital said that it was strange because she got a very, very hard hit on the head.

Yes.. Strange ??

[LivinginKata]

Could be just a tragic accident, with the broken neck & bruises caused by a fall or being tossed about near rocks in rough sea.

Edited June 18, 2011 by Maestro
Removed quote of deleted post.

[unanimosity]

Could be just a tragic accident, with the broken neck & bruises caused by a fall or being tossed about near rocks in rough sea.

How hard is it to get a report on surf conditions during the small window of time when it happened?

What is the coastline like where she normally swam? The photo looks like a sandy beach.

Edited June 18, 2011 by Maestro
Removed quote of deleted posts.

[pogal]

Could be just a tragic accident, with the broken neck & bruises caused by a fall or being tossed about near rocks in rough sea.

Entirely possible! a mere few meters fall, face first, onto rocks can kill! especially if you end up in the water (still breathing but unconscious then there would also be water in the lungs)

Edited June 18, 2011 by Maestro
Removed quote of deleted posts.

[phanangpete]

Well, i would think that she was a capable swimmer, as she went out everyday ! therefore unlikely she would dive on to rocks, she knew the beaches. Fair chance she

was hit by a fishing boat, who obviously did't stop to report. Just the same when they do this in their pickups, and no cops about !!

Edited June 18, 2011 by Maestro
Removed quote of deleted post.

[anterian]

Tossed against rocks would give you distributed bruises not just localised on the head. So if foul play is ruled out I would go for a passing boat.

[stanley2550]

There seems to be a rather high incidence of tourists deaths in this country, most of which it appears go insolved. Thailand should really clean up its act coz they are certainly losing a lot of tourist money from dead tourists turning up.

[richard_smith237]

I know a chappy who was dumped by a wave onto a sandy beach.... I don't recall him saying that they conditions were anything more severe than usual, however the wave bowled him over and he landed awkwardly..... He ended up face down in the water unable to move, he'd cracked a bone in his neck - luckily friends were there to help...

Of course - the hit and run by boat theory is also highly plausible.

Edited June 18, 2011 by Maestro
Removed reply to deleted posts.

[Maestro]

Please consider that relatives and friends of the deceased woman are likely to read this thread. Sarcastic, insensitive and otherwise inappropriate posts and replies to them are being removed. Please refrain from making them.

[rich54321]

Well, i would think that she was a capable swimmer, as she went out everyday ! therefore unlikely she would dive on to rocks, she knew the beaches. Fair chance she

was hit by a fishing boat, who obviously did't stop to report. Just the same when they do this in their pickups, and no cops about !!

COULD HAVE BEEN A JET SKI

[12DrinkMore]

I would suspect either a speed boat or longtail boat accident.

A single lone swimmer is difficult to spot, especially if there are any waves, even if the driver is keenly looking out for swimmers.

I would strongly suggest that swimmers in areas where there are very few swimmers take some high-visibility device, such as an orange inflatable ball.

Edited June 18, 2011 by 12DrinkMore

[bangkokbruce]

Could be just a tragic accident, with the broken neck & bruises caused by a fall or being tossed about near rocks in rough sea.

You would make a good Phuket policeman, call it a tragic accident and don't investigate since it's a farang. End of story. Welcome to Phuket

[LivinginKata]

Could be just a tragic accident, with the broken neck & bruises caused by a fall or being tossed about near rocks in rough sea.

You would make a good Phuket policeman, call it a tragic accident and don't investigate since it's a farang. End of story. Welcome to Phuket

My post was intended to counterbalance some of the more colourful theories being thrown about in the earlier posts. Many of these posts have now been removed, as highlighted by Moderator Maestro.

[Tokay]

Are there jet skis in the area?

[FOODLOVER]

Sixty-one year old daily swimmer, swimming in a spot that she has frequented numerous times and has a serious head wound and a broken neck? Doctor maintains that she would have had to have dived off of a 20 meter high platform to sustain this type of head trauma. That's approximately 6.5 floors of a building. If she was experienced in ocean swimming she would have been fully aware of conditions. Certain rules as well, dont swim in the rain, dont swim near a water spillway or mouth of a water flow system(Rain water runoffs) and of course not at night. From this story she did not swim in any of these conditions but she did swim alone! Always have a "buddy" if not to help you in case of cramping to push towards the hungry shark. If in fact the photo is of the beach it is definitely not a rocky cliff so unless there is a tall building near by some answers to some questions should be sought after. Also curious as to what qualifications that the doctor had to come to this conclusion. RIP

Edited June 19, 2011 by FOODLOVER

[stevenl]

Could be just a tragic accident, with the broken neck & bruises caused by a fall or being tossed about near rocks in rough sea.

You would make a good Phuket policeman, call it a tragic accident and don't investigate since it's a farang. End of story. Welcome to Phuket

No, you're mixing up Pattaya and Phuket.

Are there jet skis in the area?

No, there are not.

[trisailer]

There seems to be a rather high incidence of tourists deaths in this country, most of which it appears go unsolved. Thailand should really clean up its act coz they are certainly losing a lot of tourist money from dead tourists turning up.

Numbers/Facts please. You make a statement you should back it up.

Tourist dollars are up as I understand it. How about some facts if your going to make a statement.

I don't know if Thailand is any worse than any other tourist destination. It appears you do. lets see the facts.

[Thaddeus]

There seems to be a rather high incidence of tourists deaths in this country, most of which it appears go unsolved. Thailand should really clean up its act coz they are certainly losing a lot of tourist money from dead tourists turning up.

I don't know if Thailand is any worse than any other tourist destination. It appears you do. lets see the facts.

A quote from an article from fco.gov

Statistics show that British nationals are more likely to be admitted to hospital when visiting Thailand than any other country in the world

Google be thy friend.

[Atmos]

"Statistics show that British nationals are more likely to be admitted to hospital when visiting Thailand than any other country in the world"

"statistics" ?

does not show whether from accident/misadventure, illness, or age-related issues.

There are many aged Brits here who have chosen Thailand as a place to retire (die?) - I've seen plenty who had one foot in "death's door"

I'd need an age and cause breakdown before I would consider any 'statistics' as relevant

Edited June 19, 2011 by Atmos

[Thaddeus]

"Statistics show that British nationals are more likely to be admitted to hospital when visiting Thailand than any other country in the world"

"statistics" ?

does not show whether from accident/misadventure, illness, or age-related issues.

There are many aged Brits here who have chosen Thailand as a place to retire (die?) - I've seen plenty who had one foot in "death's door"

I'd need an age and cause breakdown before I would consider any 'statistics' as relevant

That quote is from the travel advisory section of the fco, the question posed was if Thailand was more dangerous to visit. Accidents are a hazard, illness is also a hazard when the illness is primarily caused by infection or ingestion and visitors do not tend to die of old age, retired people who live here full time do.

Just in case you missed the point, Thailand is the most dangerous country in the world to visit for UK nationals, and as accidents and deceases don't care about nationality I would expect other nations to show a similar trend.

[richard_smith237]

"Statistics show that British nationals are more likely to be admitted to hospital when visiting Thailand than any other country in the world"

"statistics" ?

does not show whether from accident/misadventure, illness, or age-related issues.

There are many aged Brits here who have chosen Thailand as a place to retire (die?) - I've seen plenty who had one foot in "death's door"

I'd need an age and cause breakdown before I would consider any 'statistics' as relevant

That quote is from the travel advisory section of the fco, the question posed was if Thailand was more dangerous to visit. Accidents are a hazard, illness is also a hazard when the illness is primarily caused by infection or ingestion and visitors do not tend to die of old age, retired people who live here full time do.

Just in case you missed the point, Thailand is the most dangerous country in the world to visit for UK nationals, and as accidents and deceases don't care about nationality I would expect other nations to show a similar trend.

Perhaps the demographic that Thailand attracts slurs the statistics...

i.e. I suspect that Ibiza has relatively high incidence of Alcohol related accidents and violence amongst British Tourists than Monaco....

Along similar lines I suspect the combination of Retires + Alcohol brings distorts the figures for Thailand.

[waza]

"Statistics show that British nationals are more likely to be admitted to hospital when visiting Thailand than any other country in the world"

"statistics" ?

does not show whether from accident/misadventure, illness, or age-related issues.

There are many aged Brits here who have chosen Thailand as a place to retire (die?) - I've seen plenty who had one foot in "death's door"

I'd need an age and cause breakdown before I would consider any 'statistics' as relevant

The fact is a British or Australian national is more likely to die or suffer injury in Thailand than any other tourist destination, including Spain, according to government sources. Its not due to retireees as Spain has far more. If you believe I am wrong then provide the research to prove it.

Edited June 20, 2011 by waza

[F1fanatic]

Perhaps the demographic that Thailand attracts slurs the statistics...

i.e. I suspect that Ibiza has relatively high incidence of Alcohol related accidents and violence amongst British Tourists than Monaco....

Along similar lines I suspect the combination of Retires + Alcohol brings distorts the figures for Thailand.

Yes, its amazing how many ex-pats 'commit suicide'.

Is there any news on this poor woman's death? Was it death by misadventure (even though she lived there and knew the area well) or perhaps suicide?

[webfact]

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