Chinese tourist found dead in Phuket hotel room

Suspicions were raised when Miss Hou Juan failed to check out on time.

PHUKET: -- Police are continuing their investigation into the death of a 30-year-old Chinese tourist who was found dead in her Phuket Town hotel room Thursday afternoon.

Miss Hou Juan’s body was discovered by a maid at the small hotel where she was staying on Patipat Road, near Suan Luang Park, in Phuket Town.

The maid had entered the room after Miss Hou failed to check out at 1pm, a receptionist at the hotel told the Phuket Gazette.

Miss Hou was found lying face down on her bed with streaks of dried blood emanating from her nose and mouth, the receptionist added.

Lt Col Ekkasit Pinkaew of Phuket City Police Station said police found one strip of pills, a bottle of medicine and a laptop computer in the room.

The items were collected as evidence in the investigation, he added.

“We found no wounds or bruises on her body and no signs of a struggle in the room. We believe she died about five hours before her body was found,” said Lt Col Ekkasit.

Miss Hou checked in at the hotel about 2pm on Wednesday and was scheduled to check out at 1pm yesterday, he said.

“As we have been unable to determine the cause of death, we will send her body to Surat Thani for an autopsy to be performed.

“At this stage, I suspect she may have committed suicide, but we need to question her relatives first in order to determine if she had any motive for doing so,” Lt Col Ekkasit said.

Officials at the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok have been notified of the incident, he added.

Source: http://www.phuketgazette.net/archives/articles/2011/article11370.html

-- Phuket Gazette 2011-11-05

Miss Hou was found lying face down on her bed with streaks of dried blood emanating from her nose and mouth, the receptionist added.

. . .

“At this stage, I suspect she may have committed suicide, but we need to question her relatives first in order to determine if she had any motive for doing so,” Lt Col Ekkasit said.

Can't recall hearing about any other suicide fitting the description, and have a bit of a hard time imagining how it should have been done. Well, maybe the autopsy will tell us more.

Many tourists who died in Thailand were assumed suicide before investigation.

Seems like many foreigners have come to Thailand to commit suicide. It must have some favorable factors that prompted them to do so.

I wonder what the tally is now, of tourists dying in Thailand? Before I came, I remember reading what a safe place it is for tourists. That notion is certainly coming more and more into question.

Even if some of these tourist deaths are suicides, it does little to encourage the notion of Thailand as such a wonderful destination for tourists-- more to encourage the notion of it being a "final destination".

There were no wounds so It must have been the pills. I didnt know you could bleed like that from overdosing .

I wonder what the tally is now, of tourists dying in Thailand?

A hub of suicides perhaps?

Many tourists who died in Thailand were assumed suicide before investigation.

It's sad, but that's always the case.

Seems like many foreigners have come to Thailand to commit suicide. It must have some favorable factors that prompted them to do so.

What else can one expect and want to do in today's Phuket?

There were no wounds so It must have been the pills. I didnt know you could bleed like that from overdosing .

They found a strip of pills in her room. Contraceptives maybe?

There were no wounds so It must have been the pills. I didnt know you could bleed like that from overdosing .

Anti-clotting meds, for example Warfarin, are sometimes used in suicides and cause bleeding from the nose and mouth. And prescription drugs are all too easy to buy in Thailand without prescriptions.

So very sad. A young woman checks into a hotel alone and next day dead.

Agree a sad thing to happen

R.I.P

umm suicide tourism? I do not think this would be a preferred Tourism logo associated by any gov't.

There were no wounds so It must have been the pills. I didnt know you could bleed like that from overdosing .

They found a strip of pills in her room. Contraceptives maybe?

Highly unlikely, the Pill does appear to be not readily available in China, ironically, and most young women there don't even know what it is. China has a huge abortion rate because of this.