Kiwi's fatal balcony fall near Khaosan Road ruled accidental

[bark]

17 hours ago, ClutchClark said:

 

Bull.

 

This is no different than goes rock climbing or swimming out to a distant buoy off the beach or racing s motorcycle. These are things that guys do who are physically fit. Like zi said, its a way of celebrating life, stregth & vitality.

 

I guess a guy either knows what this feels like or he doesn't. Not everyone was athletic...its just some of us were. He was a risktaker. It was his life to live and I doubt very much he could care what a middle aged fat guy in a cape thought of it.

 

 

I agree it is his life to live. Take any risk you want. And who cares.

But being drunk and climbing balconies, is not close to people rock climb, racers, Hang Gliders, etc. You are not drunk when you do these Sports !

[Khon Kaen Dave]

Macro 2013.

How long have you been here mate.they are least a weekly occurrence.

saying that,i hope your g/f b/f has not persuaded you to buy a lovely one on the 14th floor.

[silent]

3 hours ago, denkiblue555 said:

 

Seems you have a chip on your shoulder for some reason.....hope you get over it.

 

But as another poster mentioned, let's just let Mr.Kiwi RIP.

I think you missed it in the mirror. My chip's is a grey one in complete agreement with your quote from the other poster, but please keep up the good advice.

[MiKT]

1 hour ago, MiKT said:

 

What pictures are you looking at?

 

Those enclosed with this thread show, you could not just do the balcony stretch. Which I confess to doing more than once.

 

Where is the louvre cover shown?

 

1 hour ago, garryjohns said:

 

 

Sorry, but your words show you to not practice as you preach

"If you had been following the poor NZ guys fall, he was drunk and trying to climb to the room of  a young lady friend.

 

We all do stupid things, but this would have been a tough climb sober. He was unlucky that's all."

 

He was not climbing anywhere..What 'tough climb" are you referring to?

He was simply trying to stretch/move accross a gap from one balcony to another one right next to each other.

Maybe 150-180cms..not too far at all and easy enough to do if sober.

I would say he simply misjudged the whole move and slipped, grabbing at the louvre cover over the void between the two balconeys.

 

However, i do agree with you  and said previously myself... "unlucky"

 

 

I went to blow up the pictures again and it maybe there is a louvre cover all the way down the face of the building between balconies covering the air conditioner compressors, but there is an intervening wall at the end of each balcony so the trip around the front of the louvre cover would have been well over 2 1/2 meters (there are no foot holds either side) and very difficult to achieve unless you were clinging onto the louvre cover which would be basically suicidal. Not a stretch, definitely a climb.

 

Possibly he was on the top floor where it is not possible to see the balcony arrangements in the photographs. 

 

Anyway,  when I said "If you had been following the poor NZ guys fall, he was drunk and trying to climb to the room of  a young lady friend"  I was referring to those posters who were speculating about Thai girls etc. The previous thread said that there were 2 guys in one room and one tried to climb to the room of their female friend. It seemed to imply they were all NZ who knew each other.

 

But I am really puzzled by your "preaching" comment. What is it you think I was preaching that I was not practising?

 

Balcony climbing or ??? I don't encourage anyone to do it, although I have done it myself a few times over the years. But nowadays I get such grief from the TR that it takes all the fun out of it.

 

Edited September 2, 2016 by MiKT

[swerver]

6 hours ago, ScotBkk said:

Balcony supremo

It's the desire to swim in deeper waters is what gives us a greater experience. Nothing new comes out of being ordinary. Leaders take risks. 

 

RIP 

 

 

 

 

Yes, balcony supremo.

You have that right when looking at the photos of the building and see the distance from balcony to balcony with a fair distance in between of a slap of lets say concrete in between with nothing to hold on to and place your foot on. You definitely have to be as Kiwis say, "being pissed" to  contemplate such a stunt.  Oh well just one more Kiwi not able to volunteer for fighting and being killed in Exceptionalistan never ending wars for which his family would have received a medal, while for his stunt in Thailand they got nothing. Maybe not even live insurance because he endangered his own life, which is not covered in Life Insurance.

[natway09]

Far easier to go & knock on the door

[garryjohns]

1 hour ago, MiKT said:

 

 

I went to blow up the pictures again and it maybe there is a louvre cover all the way down the face of the building between balconies covering the air conditioner compressors, but there is an intervening wall at the end of each balcony so the trip around the front of the louvre cover would have been well over 2 1/2 meters (there are no foot holds either side) and very difficult to achieve unless you were clinging onto the louvre cover which would be basically suicidal. Not a stretch, definitely a climb.

 

Possibly he was on the top floor where it is not possible to see the balcony arrangements in the photographs. 

 

Anyway,  when I said "If you had been following the poor NZ guys fall, he was drunk and trying to climb to the room of  a young lady friend"  I was referring to those posters who were speculating about Thai girls etc. The previous thread said that there were 2 guys in one room and one tried to climb to the room of their female friend. It seemed to imply they were all NZ who knew each other.

 

But I am really puzzled by your "preaching" comment. What is it you think I was preaching that I was not practising?

 

Balcony climbing or ??? I don't encourage anyone to do it, although I have done it myself a few times over the years. But nowadays I get such grief from the TR that it takes all the fun out of it.

 

 

 

Take a look at this pic on the link and compare to what you are saying.

 

 

                                    

^^^^ As i said earlier  maybe 150-180cm apart and easily do -able..Even has a small ledge to stand on .

Possibly, for a shortass a stretch, but definitly no climbing involved.

Not "maybe" a louvre cover.."definitely "a louvre cover

 

Has been said in both threads also that it was 4th floor, not top floor

[nausea]

Such is life, it's over for him. I feel sorry for those guys who do this kind of thing and end up paraplegic. Young men are risk-takers, a certain proportion are gonna end up screwed or dead.

[ClutchClark]

4 hours ago, bark said:

I agree it is his life to live. Take any risk you want. And who cares.

But being drunk and climbing balconies, is not close to people rock climb, racers, Hang Gliders, etc. You are not drunk when you do these Sports !

 

I didn't read he was drunk.

 

Was that a witness statement or has the toxicology report already come back?

[Gracas]

Many are talking about this guy being young and doing something stupid. Yes we were all young once and did many stupid things, some of us survived and some did not. But this guy was 30 <deleted>, he was not young and certainly old enough to know that maybe this would not go as planned. Others are talking about railing condition and height of railing, he made the decision to climb over the railing. Unless it was a caged in balcony this was going to happen.

He played the game and lost, yes sad but that is the way it goes.

[MiKT]

3 hours ago, garryjohns said:

 

 

Take a look at this pic on the link and compare to what you are saying.

 

 

                                    

 

 

A  little bit of TV sleuthing on line gets quite a few different views of this (I must say very nice) hotel and it would appear that the pic you are showing is not the same hotel.

 

Never-the-less, if you see the attached you can see just how easily it would be to go from balcony to balcony. So he was indeed very unlucky.

 

 

 

 

[chicowoodduck]

Just like I mentioned in another post....he was pushed...??

[BangkokTony]

A better view

[BangkokTony]

I used to live at Juan Manee next door.  I took this pic 3 years ago when it opened.

[BangkokTony]

and another one showing lack of health and safety

[Wilsonandson]

I fail to see what a man standing on a railing doing some electrical work has to do with a New Zealander trying to get into his bedroom via the balcony? You can stand on the balcony of every building in the world. What does that prove?

I have checked the news in New Zealand about the deceased and it seems his friends all believe it was a tragic accident. That is what it is! R.I.P to the man who died.

[MiKT]

4 hours ago, Wilsonandson said:

I fail to see what a man standing on a railing doing some electrical work has to do with a New Zealander trying to get into his bedroom via the balcony? You can stand on the balcony of every building in the world. What does that prove?

I have checked the news in New Zealand about the deceased and it seems his friends all believe it was a tragic accident. That is what it is! R.I.P to the man who died.

 

Well he was allegedly trying to get into a girl friends balcony; and because the initial photographs published with this thread were not clear, it made it seem that it would have been a very risky thing to do. 

 

The last photograph I enclosed indicated that this was not the case and it is in fact very easy to go from balcony to balcony. The set of pictures from Bangkok Tony show very clearly that no matter what floor it is, it is just a simple step from balcony to balcony; and thus he may have been both very drunk (as is noted in the first post) and very unlucky. As you say RIP.

 

It was indeed on the face of it a tragic accident that happens all to often here (and in every other country) because of drink, drugs, stupidity, tiredness, carelessness, inclement weather and bad luck.

 

The man on the balcony rail clearly is nothing to do with the case except it emphasizes what has been said about easy access.

 

But there are well respected safety professionals who claim there is no such thing as an accident and whether a relatively reasonably priced hotel should have such easy access between rooms is now of more interest than it would be if it was a difficult climb (as I initially thought) and  a really crazy thing to do.

 

The problem is do you view it as preventable because they should have fenced the balconies better, or do you view it as entirely his own fault because he should not have done it, no matter how easy.

 

In the now ubber nanny UK state, without a doubt the hotel would be guilty of negligence.

 

If you view it that the hotel only had a reasonable duty of care to ensure the railings were safe (they look ok and I don't see them breaking easily - as demonstrated by the "electrician" standing on them) so you may take the view, as I do, that it was entirely his own fault.

 

That does not mean that I don't feel for his family and friends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Howitzer]

On 9/1/2016 at 9:06 PM, ClutchClark said:

A wooden railing broke away? 

 

Well now that is just what I said in another thread. 

 

 

Meaning that the railings obviously weren't strong enough to bear the weight of a person tugging on i am sure it wasn't his full weight on the railings as in his feet were probably on the ledge but it must have bore quite a substantial weightage.

[MiKT]

42 minutes ago, Howitzer said:

 

 

Meaning that the railings obviously weren't strong enough to bear the weight of a person tugging on i am sure it wasn't his full weight on the railings as in his feet were probably on the ledge but it must have bore quite a substantial weightage.

 

For goodness sake look at the pictures, there are no wooden railings on this hotel. Do you not also see the picture of a man standing on them to fix some wiring.

 

I know its early in the AM but wake up before you post.

 

 

[kannot]

On 9/1/2016 at 8:12 PM, trogers said:

Stupidity is never an accident!

 2  sorts, the person who decided to climb and the constructors most likely  poor and too low balcony contributed

[bannork]

I'm going to write to the Prime Minister, urging him to use section 44 to immediately demolish all balconies in every building over 1 floor, as well as seal all windows to prevent drunk farangs from committing acts of stupidity

. As an alternative measure adventurous farang drunks could be restricted to staying in hotels with a deep sandpit encircling the base of  each hotel.

[ClutchClark]

Just now, bannork said:

I'm going to write to the Prime Minister, urging him to use section 44 to immediately demolish all balconies in every building over 1 floor, as well as seal all windows to prevent drunk farangs from committing acts of stupidity

. As an alternative measure adventurous farang drunks could be restricted to staying in hotels with a deep sandpit encircling the base of  each hotel.

 

Was this Kiwi drunk?

[bannork]

3 minutes ago, ClutchClark said:

 

Was this Kiwi drunk?

According to the news he fell in the early hours after a night drinking with friends

[ClutchClark]

4 minutes ago, bannork said:

According to the news he fell in the early hours after a night drinking with friends

 

I drink on occasion but I don't drink until drunk

 

Thanks for the details. 

 

 

 

[BangkokTony]

As you can see from the pics it is very easy on the top floor to climb in to the neighbouring room. It appears even easier on the floors below.

At the time I always thought that access to rooms next door was too easy as I gazed out of my room looking at Chillax.

[mikiea]

On 9/2/2016 at 7:24 AM, catman20 said:

you cant fake stupid.RIP

mandatory seat-belt equipped balcony's , yea ... yea ... dat's da ticket ... yea ...   

[mikiea]

On 9/3/2016 at 6:31 AM, ClutchClark said:

 

I drink on occasion but I don't drink until drunk

 

Thanks for the details. 

 

 

 

why not ? any thing less is a total waste of brewery time and effort they have expended in your behalf .

 .....

[ClutchClark]

2 hours ago, mikiea said:

why not ? any thing less is a total waste of brewery time and effort they have expended in your behalf .

 .....

 

I know when I have been outdone.

 

I concede this debate to Mikiea for his undeniable wisdom on this matter.