A 29-year-old Australian man was fatally injured after he fell from the roof of Building 97 of the Nawarat Housing Complex on U Wisara Road in Dagon Township at 11:30pm on October 27.
The deceased was identified as Mr Lachlan William Rhodes, who was backpacking through Southeast Asia and had arrived in Yangon the day before his fall.
7Day Daily reported on October 29 that police were still trying to find out why he was on the rooftop of the four-storey building. The family of the deceased was still searching for answers as of November 13, by which time they had not been contacted by Myanmar police.
“He didn’t live in that building. We have to investigate why he was there. We’re working with the Australian embassy to investigate. Everything else is still unclear,” a police officer from the Dagon Township police station told 7Day.
The Nawarat Housing Complex houses military staff and their families, and it is in the same compound as the No (2) Military Hospital.
Mr Rhodes was alive when he was transferred to Yangon General Hospital, where he arrived nearly two hours after his fall. It is unclear what happened in the intervening period. It is also unclear why he was not treated at the hospital directly next door.
Hospital staff observed wounds on the side and back of his head, and his right forearm was bruised and wounded, according to 7Day.
According to official reports, Mr Rhodes died at 2am on October 28. Upon receiving news of his death, the Dagon Township police opened an investigation into the bizarre and tragic case.
An officer from the Dagon Township police station told Coconuts Yangon he did not know the details and could not comment on the case. He also said he was not allowed to give out the number of the officer investigating the case.
A relative of the deceased has said the family has since received more information and are confident Mr Rhodes’s death was an accident.
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