Chinese tourist dies at luxury villa party
A Chinese tourist on vacation in Phuket died in what appears to have been a deadly rooftop plunge after a late-night party with friends at a luxury villa in Kamala.
The others staying at the villa woke up late on Thursday after a night of partying to find the body of their friend, Gao Zhiyu, 30, from Yunnan, China, on the ground beside the high-set hillside villa.
Lt. Col. Somnuek Damkaew of the Kamala Police was notified of the incident at 1pm.
Gao was staying at the villa with two other men and three women, one of whom was his girlfriend, said Maj. Eakkachai Siri, of the Phuket Tourist Police.
“They checked in to the villa on Tuesday and were supposed to check out on Saturday,” Maj. Eakkachai said.
He noted that the villa rooftop, where they were celebrating, was about 20 meters above the ground
“In the early morning, at about 1:40am, his friends went back to their rooms while Gao stayed outside smoking alone,” Maj. Eakkachai added.
No one knew that Gao never made it back to his room. His girlfriend woke up late the next morning but couldn’t find him, so they all started looking. Finally they spotted Gao’s body.
Police are continuing to investigate but believe that Gao fell from the rooftop while smoking or might have tried to jump to land in the pool but missed his mark.
Source: Coconuts
