A Swedish man, aged 57, attempted to kill himself by dashing in front of the cars driving on Thepkasatree road, the main road in Phuket, Thailand at 2.30 a.m. of 17th February 2019.
The local police together with the tourist police and recuse teams were sent to the incident scene. They successfully helped the Swedish man by grabbing him before he was hit by a car. Although he was not physically injured, he was sent to Talang hospital on suicide watch and then transferred to Vachira Phuket hospital for further diagnose and medical treatment.
Later, Dr Chalermpong Sukhonthaphon, the director of Vachira Phuket hospital revealed that the man was suffering from mental illness.
Dr Chalermpong also added that the man’s visa was expiring today (17th Feb), so it was necessary to contact the involved authorities and the Swedish embassy in order to continue the treatment for the man’s mental illness.
After this news was posted on the internet, it caught many Thais’ attention. Some Thais raised a question that why a foreigner who has a mental illness is allowed into the country while others speculated that the Swedish man might be cheated out of his money and then was ditched when his money was running out.
