Pattaya Thailand: Tourist dies in freak accident after slipping and cracking head on lucky Buddha shrine
A Canadian tourist has died in a freak accident after he slipped and cracked his head on a lucky Buddhist statue in Thailand.
The Canadian holidaymaker, 66, was walking back to his hotel room when he slipped on some steps and tragically smashed his head on the stone carving. The horrifying accident happened in the lobby of the Royal Thai Pavilion Hotel, a beach resort in Pattaya on the east coast of the Thailand.
The stone statue was an ornate female figure placed on a short flight of stairs near the entrance as a good luck shrine. The man fell and cracked his head on the solid base of the structure.
Shocked hotel staff discovered the man lying face down on the ground and called the emergency services. Paramedics attempted resuscitation but sadly the man was pronounced dead at the scene.
The investigating local police chief, Phuttarak Sonkhamhan, said the tragic incident occurred at 3:34pm on Wednesday (4 December). The officer said: "We inspected the deceased's room on the 9th floor and found only three suitcases containing clothes and personal items, a laptop computer and a charger.
"On the shelf above the refrigerator, a box of medicine and a syringe were found, which are believed to be his medicine, so they were collected as evidence. We do not believed there there was nobody else involved in the tourist's death. He fell by himself and hit his head on the statue.”
The hotel guest had been staying since December 2 and was due to leave on December 9. Staff at the resort believed he had been returning from an afternoon workout when the freak accident happened.
It is not yet known if the man had any guests in the days before his death, but police are analysing CCTV from the hotel. The Canadian's body was taken to the Bang Lamung Hospital for a post-mortem. Authorities have neem working with the Canadian Embassy to inform the deceased man's family.