Aussie Tourist Falls to Death From Patong Hotel Balcony
PHUKET: The body of a young Australian tourist was found today after he apparently tumbled to his death from the balcony at a Patong holiday hotel.
A security guard checking the grounds of a bank next to the C&N Hotel found the man's body in the bank car park about 6.40am.
Patong police who went to the hotel awakened friends of the Australian, Police Lieutenant Jakapong Lurn-on told Phuketwan today.
There were six people travelling together, three men and three women. The group of friends, sharing three rooms at the hotel, did not realise the man, aged 33, was absent.
The fourth-floor balcony of the hotel in Patong's Rat-U-Tit 200 Pi Road had a low balustrade. Police estimated that the man had fallen to his death about two hours before he was found.
He was barefoot and wearing only a pair of shorts, with a mobile telephone in one pocket.
It is understood the group was planning on travelling from Phuket to Phi Phi tomorrow. Phuketwan has the name of the dead man but is withholding publication until his family have been notified.
The three-star C&N Hotel, especially popular with Australian visitors, is promoted as being ''just 200 metres from Patong Beach, with a private balcony with city views.'' It is described as being ''50 metres from the vibrant nightlife at Bangla Road.''
Photographs of the hotel online show the balcony balustrades as being low and decorative rather than practical.
The man's body is now in Patong Hospital.