Two British tourist were discovered battered to death on Monday, September 15, 2014 on a beach in southern Thailand, one of the Asian county’s most popular diving destinations, an AP report shows.
Police said the 2 victims were a 23 year old woman from Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, and a 24-year-old man from Jersey, Channel Islands whose almost naked bodies were found in Koh Tao, a tiny island in the Gulf of Thailand, along with a bloodied hoe which Police colonel Prachum Ruangthong said was suspected to be the murder weapons.
Ruangthong stated that: “The man was chopped in the back and on the side of his head, while the woman was chopped in her face. It’s very gruesome.”
Police major general Kiattipong Khawsamang said. investigations revealed that the couple had traveled separately but met while staying in the same seaside hotel. In his words “They went out to a bar and left together after 1 a.m. according to closed circuit TV camera footage. We don’t know who the suspect might be yet but we have talked to different witnesses who might lead us to some clues,”
According to local reports, the residents of the island, about 2,000 people, have reacted in outrage, blockading its piers so as to help police prevent the person(s) responsible from escaping.
Koh Tao is an island in Surat Thani province 410 kilometers south of Bangkok and survives on tourism
