In the wee hours of yesterday morning, a Russian national climbed over a glass wall on the fourth floor of the passenger terminal in Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport and jumped. He suffered critical injuries and later died at the hospital.
Suvarnabhumi Police arrived at the scene of the incident at about 1am yesterday and rushed the 44-year-old man, who had landed on the second floor, to Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital in Suan Luang district.
Doctors were unable to save him, and he was pronounced dead at 6am, reported Matichon.
CCTV footage from the airport revealed that the man had just arrived in Bangkok from Vietnam and passed immigration right before the incident, deputy police spokesman Col Krissana Pattanacharoen said yesterday at a press conference at Royal Thai Police Headquarters.
“We still don’t know the reason or motive leading to the death,” he said, adding that investigators are continuing to collect evidence from the scene, interviewing witnesses and checking CCTV footage in order to draw conclusions.
Meanwhile, security footage showing the Russian climbing the glass wall has gone viral today.
In the video, he can be seen spending about a minute climbing the glass wall.
Voices can be heard in the background of the video, presumably airport police watching the footage, wondering why nobody stopped the man as it occured in a public area.
“Wow… this [the cimbing] took a while too,” said a voice.
“Guess nobody was in direct peripheral to see this happening,” another man replies.
Toward the end of the video, an unidentified passerby walks into frame and spots the man merely seconds before he jumps. He was unable to stop him.
Unfortunately, reports of suicides in Suvarnabhumi airport are disturbingly common.
The Bangkok Post reported last year that at least eight people had jumped to their deaths since Suvarnabhumi first opened in 2006. We have reported on at least two more since then.
Only last October, a German man jumped to his death, also from the fourth floor of the passenger terminal, after refusing to board a flight four days earlier. Several days later, a Brazilian DJ broke his leg and ankle after falling from the third floor of Suvarnabhumi while reportedly wearing nothing but swimming trunks.
While the airport spent THB33 million about (US$1 million) in 2013 installing 2.5-meter-high glass barriers to discourage people from taking their lives, multiple travellers have still managed to get over the wall and jumped.
If you are considering harming yourself, please reach out for help. Assistance is available around the clock from the Mental Health Department’s 1323 hotline (for Thai speakers) or the Samaritans of Thailand at 02-713-6793 (for Thai speakers), and 02-713-6791 (for English speakers).
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German tourist, refuses to board plane, jumps to his death at Suvarnabhumi Airport
The Suvarnabhumi Suicides: Airport to erect THB30M glass wall to deter jumpers
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