Japanese burns self in suicide bid

A 37-year-old Japanese national from Yokohama torched himself ablaze with bottles of gasoline and jumped to his death from the balcony of Taniya shopping plaza in Patpong area.

Bang Rak police later identified the badly burned body of man on the ground floor from his driving and social security cards as Mr Shinji Watanabe from Yokohama, Japan.

Some personal use medicines and two empty bottles of energy drink were at his side. There were traces and smells of gasoline in both bottles.

Police said they were alerted of the incident by security guards at the shopping plaza building at about 10.30 pm that a man whose body was in flame fell from the balcony of the fourth floor to the ground of the first floor

A rewind of video footages from CCTV cameras of the building and at the fourth floor showed he walked to the balcony of the fourth floor holding two plastic bottles and an energy drink bottle.

All three bottles were tied together with rope.

He sat on the balcony, poured gasoline from the three bottles to his clothes and set himself ablaze with torch lighter before falling down to the ground floor near the food centre where there were still many night shoppers in the building.

It was not immediately known the cause of the suicide attempt, but police established two theories, whether from work or love.

The police are contacting the Japanese embassy for help in establishing the exact cause and contacting his relatives in Japan.

Thai PBS

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