PHUKET: Mystery still surrounds the final hours of young Australian Sebastian Eric Faulkner, 21, who died in a Phuket balcony plunge.
The young man from Melbourne went to Patong Hospital about 5am on December 31, the day of his death, according to a source at the hospital.
A nurse who helped him to lie down on a trolley in the emergency treatment section of the hospital was surprised to find minutes later that he had vanished.
''The nurse was so astonished and this was so unusual that the nurse reported Mr Faulkner missing to Patong police,'' the source told Phuketwan today.
The same nurse was shocked when Mr Faulkner was readmitted about 12 hours later in a critical condition, the source said.
He had plunged from the ninth floor at the Andaman Beach Suites Hotel soon after 6pm.
A friend and travelling companion, a young man of about the same age, had tried to calm and control Mr Faulkner for two days.
It is believed Mr Faulkner hit a palm tree, breaking his fall, and so was alive when paramedics strapped him onto a frame to be taken to Patong Hospital.
At the hospital, his injuries were diagnosed as being extremely serious and he was transferred to Bangkok Hospital Phuket on the other side of the island, in Phuket City.
Mr Faulkner is believed to have died either in the ambulance or soon after admission.
Family members arrived on Phuket yesterday to accompany both young men home to Australia.
A cousin, Ben Faulkner, was one of many family and friends posting Facebook messages today:
''Seb Faulkner it's like a nightmare I can't wake up from! I have memories of having a beer with you, having many a laugh with you & teasing you as your older & dramatically less talented cousin - no one can ever take them away from me - they will be with me forever mate!''
The young man from Melbourne went to Patong Hospital about 5am on December 31, the day of his death, according to a source at the hospital.
A nurse who helped him to lie down on a trolley in the emergency treatment section of the hospital was surprised to find minutes later that he had vanished.
''The nurse was so astonished and this was so unusual that the nurse reported Mr Faulkner missing to Patong police,'' the source told Phuketwan today.
The same nurse was shocked when Mr Faulkner was readmitted about 12 hours later in a critical condition, the source said.
He had plunged from the ninth floor at the Andaman Beach Suites Hotel soon after 6pm.
A friend and travelling companion, a young man of about the same age, had tried to calm and control Mr Faulkner for two days.
It is believed Mr Faulkner hit a palm tree, breaking his fall, and so was alive when paramedics strapped him onto a frame to be taken to Patong Hospital.
At the hospital, his injuries were diagnosed as being extremely serious and he was transferred to Bangkok Hospital Phuket on the other side of the island, in Phuket City.
Mr Faulkner is believed to have died either in the ambulance or soon after admission.
Family members arrived on Phuket yesterday to accompany both young men home to Australia.
A cousin, Ben Faulkner, was one of many family and friends posting Facebook messages today:
''Seb Faulkner it's like a nightmare I can't wake up from! I have memories of having a beer with you, having many a laugh with you & teasing you as your older & dramatically less talented cousin - no one can ever take them away from me - they will be with me forever mate!''
