Thai police are investigating the death of a 74-year-old British man who fell from a tenth-floor balcony at a hotel in the resort city of Pattaya on the evening of September 6.
Officers were called to the D-Beach Hotel after staff and passers-by discovered the man lying face-down in a pool of blood next to a busy road near the building. A Pattaya Special Affairs officer, Phanuthat Thanakasemphakin, said he was working about 20 feet away when he heard a loud bang "like a transformer explosion," ran to the scene and found the man gasping for air. He said he attempted to help but the man died soon after.
Police Lieutenant Manasak Ponyiam of Pattaya City Police Station said investigators inspected the scene and collected evidence. The victim, who was reported to be from Wales, had been registered in room 1079 on the tenth floor, Lieutenant Manasak said. Officers checked the room and found no visible signs of assault or ransacking, and hotel security footage for the preceding day showed no one entering or leaving the room except the occupant until the time of the incident, he said.
Investigators said it remained unclear whether the fall was accidental or self-inflicted. The body was sent to the Institute of Forensic Medicine for a post-mortem examination, and police said they planned to question hotel employees as part of their inquiries. Local reports said the Daily Mail had contacted the UK's Foreign Office for comment.
Pattaya, on Thailand’s eastern Gulf coast, is a major tourist destination known for its beaches and nightlife. Thai authorities and local media have noted a number of fatalities this year involving foreign visitors falling from elevated hotel areas. Among incidents reported earlier in 2025, Thai authorities said a Russian tourist died after a fall from a pool-villa roof in Phuket on July 19, an American tourist fell from a 10th-floor balcony in Chiang Mai on July 18, an Austrian guest died after falling on July 2 in Surat Thani, and a British tourist died in a June 4 fall from an unprotected walkway in Phuket.
Police in Pattaya said their investigation in the September 6 death would continue as they await the results of forensic tests and complete interviews with hotel staff and potential witnesses. No formal determination as to cause of death has been announced.