PHUKET: The man found dead on Patong beach this week has been identified as a British citizen, it was confirmed today.

He was named as Jeremy Thomas O'Neill, 37, after British officials said that his family had been notified.

A tourist at Patong beach found a pair of shorts in the water near Patong's Loma Park around 9am on Tuesday, three hours after a body had been found at the water's edge.

In a pocket of the shorts was Mr O'Neill's passport, police told Phuketwan today.

Patong residents had reported seeing a bearded man washing himself in the sea about 4am.

Mr O'Neill's body was found at 6am, dressed only in a red t-shirt. There were no marks on the body and no signs of violence.

Doctors at Patong Hospital have said the man was a victim of death by drowning. Tests for alcohol in the blood have yet to produce a result.