UPDATE
The man who fell from the balcony has been named as Dean William McKeon, from Geelong in the Australian state of Victoria. He may have been sleepwalking, and stumbled over the low balcony railing, officials speculate.
Original Report
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.
Update A tourist, a tour driver and a tour manager have spoken out about a savage beating of the kind that typifies the behavior of Phuket's monopolistic and intimidatory taxi drivers.
My Phuket Nightmare: Phuket Tourist Tells of Taxi Drivers in Savage Beating
Phuket Jet-Skis: Aussie Video Warning
Breaking News An Australian Government department is making a video warning tourists about jet-ski rip-offs and other scams on Phuket following lack of action by local authorities.
Phuket Jet-Skis: Aussie Video Warning
Australian Found Hanged from Patong Hotel Balcony
UPDATE An Australian expat resident of Phuket has been found hanging from a cord after apparently jumping to his death from a balcony at a Patong hotel.
Australian Found Hanged from Patong Hotel Balcony
Phuket Tragedy: Aussie Dies in World Cup Row Plunge
UPDATE An argument about which team will win the World Cup game between Australia and Germany may have been followed by the death of an Aussie tourist in a Phuket plunge.
Phuket Tragedy: Aussie Dies in World Cup Row Plunge
Phuket Balcony Plunge Leaves City Mourning
Latest A visitor to Phuket fell from a balcony and later underwent an operation aimed at saving his life by neurosurgeons flown from Australia. His life support has since been turned off.
Phuket Balcony Plunge Leaves City Mourning
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Posted by Greg on October 8, 2011 14:38
Editor Comment:
A man is dead. Show some sympathy, please . . . or post some place where readers are not concerned about the feelings of family and friends.