Swede found after suicide in empty building

Swedish national Stig Johan Kristian Hammarsten was found dead on Friday 5 December on the 43 floor of an abandoned construction site for Satorn Unit Tower in Bangkok. Mr. Hammarsten was found in the early morning by a photographer who had sneaked past the guard into the building which is famous for its spectacular sunrise view over the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok. But it took a while before people believed him.

The photographer, Nattawat, who works as a chef at a hotel in Bangkok, had been up into the building before by paying the guard for permission, but this time he had sneaked into the compound and gone up in the building without permission. When he was done shooting and about to go down, he wanted just one m ore and went into the room on 43 floor, where he found Mr. Hammarsteen hanging in the toilet.

Shocked, he ran the rest of the stairs down and sneaked out past the guard and went to the police box on Satorn and reported what he had found, but the police said they were traffic police and he should report to the regular police. Then he tried to call 191. But the number was busy every time he called. Then he called the rescue service, who told him they could not go up in the building until he had reported his find to the police first. Then he called 199. The person who picked up the phone told him to call 193. But that line was also busy.

Eventually in the evening after work he went home by BTS. There he met a policeman to whom he explained what he had found and asked if he could not do something? The policeman was very kind, but unfortunately Satorn was in another district so he should call the right district. He got upset and said “then let him hang there!”

When he got home. he decided to post the whole thing on the popular Thai online forum Pantip.com. Here the story started going viral. Some teased him by saying he had seen a ghost. If he was a photographer, why didn’t he take a photo? Eventually, someone advised him to call the police radio station JS100, which he did. They obtained permission and sent the rescue service Por Teck Tueng up into the building to have a look.

At first they couldn’t find anything and was about to conclude he had indeed seen a ghost, when suddenly they came upon the Swede on the 43 floor, where he had hung himself. His identity was decided by his id cards and credits cards in his wallet.