Japanese man sets himself on fire, plunges to his death at Thaniya Plaza in Bangkok

[webfact]

Japanese burns self in suicide bid



BANGKOK: -- A 37-year-old Japanese national from Yokohama torched himself ablaze with bottles of gasoline and jumped to his death from the balcony of Taniya shopping plaza in Patpong area.

Bang Rak police later identified the badly burned body of man on the ground floor from his driving and social security cards as Mr Shinji Watanabe from Yokohama, Japan.

Some personal use medicines and two empty bottles of energy drink were at his side. There were traces and smells of gasoline in both bottles.

Police said they were alerted of the incident by security guards at the shopping plaza building at about 10.30 pm that a man whose body was in flame fell from the balcony of the fourth floor to the ground of the first floor

A rewind of video footages from CCTV cameras of the building and at the fourth floor showed he walked to the balcony of the fourth floor holding two plastic bottles and an energy drink bottle.

All three bottles were tied together with rope.

He sat on the balcony, poured gasoline from the three bottles to his clothes and set himself ablaze with torch lighter before falling down to the ground floor near the food centre where there were still many night shoppers in the building.

It was not immediately known the cause of the suicide attempt, but police established two theories, whether from work or love.

The police are contacting the Japanese embassy for help in establishing the exact cause and contacting his relatives in Japan.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/japanese-burns-self-suicide-bid/


-- Thai PBS 2014-10-23

[animatic]

Words fail... sadness prevails.

[Costas2008]

Words fail... sadness prevails.

Yes I agree, but I'm happy he didn't kill anybody else when he came down from the building.......

[MaxLee]

Alcohol's fault, case closed ... mai pen rai sumimasen

[fire69water]

Tragic, but very selfish of him, not just the suicide but the manner of it. There are quieter and more considerate ways to go into the night.

[Bluespunk]

"It was not immediately known the cause of the suicide attempt, but police established two theories, whether from work or love."

So they're just guessing then?

[Cuchulainn]

Poor sod. What a way to go.

[Fiddlesticks]

Lately it seems that Thailand is not a great place to be for Japanese visitors wanting a relaxing vacation or retirement.

[RKASA]

"cause of the suicide attempt" attempt? RIP

[Ulysses G.]

I can understand why someone would want to die. I don't understand why they would do it in the most unpleasant way possible.

[Misterwhisper]

"It was not immediately known the cause of the suicide attempt,..."

Well, he was dead, wasn't he? So it was not merely an "attempt" at suicide, was it?

Shoddy reporting at its best by

[choochoo]

Must have been one of those karaoke ladies who broke his heart.

[Thormaturge]

How very crass, giving out the man's identity before notifying next of kin. Imagine learning that your son/husband has died from a newspaper or, worse still. A website.

[Jai Dee]

An insensitive post and reply to that post has been deleted from this topic.

Please keep the discussion civil and respectful.

[ToddinChonburi]

RIP

[Baerboxer]

I can understand why someone would want to die. I don't understand why they would do it in the most unpleasant way possible.

I guess the mind must be driven to desperation when doing such things. Logical reasoning and thinking in any clear way must just disappear.

It once attended a military leadership psychology course where they said that everyone as their breaking point. If yours is reached you will either kill yourself or kill others depending on your personality type. Sad that people are, for whatever reasons, driven to one of those extremes.

[JOC]

Tragic, but very selfish of him, not just the suicide but the manner of it. There are quieter and more considerate ways to go into the night.

So in his darkest hour you are asking for political correctness??

Give us a break!!

[leon9mm]

Don't understand why some people take the most painful way out ..boggles me ...

[KarenBravo]

A new literal meaning to "going down in flames".

Edited October 23, 2014 by KarenBravo

[Bluespunk]

Tragic, but very selfish of him, not just the suicide but the manner of it. There are quieter and more considerate ways to go into the night.

So in his darkest hour you are asking for political correctness??

Give us a break!!

So now it's considered political correctness to want people not to harm others by their own actions.

By you, anyway.

[pumpuy]

Don't ever fall in love with professional " bargirls " , this will end up bad in most cases ....

[Tokay]

The Japanese have an ungodly high rate of suicide. I'm surprised more of them don't come to Thailand to do it.

[Strangebrew]

No class in reporting persons name is that thainess? name him to all before relatives know.

[Songhua]

No class in reporting persons name is that thainess? name him to all before relatives know.

Not to mention images of the scene and the poor bloke's body shown on television just five minutes ago.

[Tazwa]

Well he chose a very public way of killing himself - and he got publicity. Had he done it inside his hotel room, it wouldn't have made the tv news.

[Gandtee]

How did the BIB come to the conclusion that he died due to work or love? Is this another one of their 'shoot from the lip' guesses?

[mrtoad]

Awful way to die, but awful for those people who saw this. Agreed that the manner was particularly selfish. Some years back in the UK, a local bloke jumped off a viaduct and landed on a car below, it was lucky he didn't kill the people in the car.

[northernjohn]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

How very crass, giving out the man's identity before notifying next of kin. Imagine learning that your son/husband has died from a newspaper or, worse still. A website.

There is another thread going with 8 foreign countries coming together and asking the Thai media to curb their enthusiasm. The police should never have released the name until after the next of kin was notified. The police release information before it should be public and the media doesn't care who they hurt they will print it. Business as usual in the news media. That is pretty much world wide. All though a lot of police departments won't release the name until the next of kin is notified.

The Japanese have an ungodly high rate of suicide. I'm surprised more of them don't come to Thailand to do it.

I believe they even have a ritualistic method of doing it. Kind of falling out off favor now. I think the set your self on fire was started by the Buddhist Monks way back when China over ran Tibet. Now that I think of it there was a few protesting Viet Nam.

Edited October 23, 2014 by northernjohn

[EnglishJohn]

Does Thailand attract the unstable or does it make them unstable ?.

I've been next to a few people on the aeroplane over the years who seemed to be hanging on by a thread. They are usually alcoholics and proceed to get smashed during the flight. The fun and games starts later : one guy was punching the seat in front going "why, why why ..."

[ggt]

Poor lad...there are so many other ways to kill oneself...this is the most gruesome...except for the couple who committed suicide by cutting their own heads off...