Lamphun: A teenager was found hanged in an apparent suicide after police discovered he was beaten in an online game and recently broke up with his girlfriend.
Local police were alerted to the hanging of a 15-year-old teenager, whose name was not given, at a house in tambon U-mong of Muang district yesterday. The police, medics and doctor from Lamphun Hospital took away the body for autopsy. The doctor determined the boy had been dead for at least two hours.
Police said the young man, originally from Phetchabun, came to live at a rented house with his relatives and friends who also work at the same workplace. According to relatives and friends, the teenager was gregarious and lively. When he was not working, he would play online games on his mobile phone. He appeared to have had a drinking problem as he tended to drink heavily when he was alone.
When he first arrived in Lamphun, he complained he had been left alone and confided to friends that he had recently broken up with his girlfriend. Earlier, he tried to kill himself by jumping into a river but friends managed to rescue him.
On Saturday night, friends left the teenager alone at the rented house they shared. He was last seen playing the online game. He also drank a relative's home-brewed whiskey before being found hanged to death in the house by relatives and friends who returned in the morning. In the teenager's Facebook, he posted a message with a photo taken of his favourite internet game. He wrote "goodbye" in the caption below.
Police said the teenager may have felt lonely living away from his mother, who is in Phetchabun. A failed relationship could have also contributed to his decision to his own life with a defeat in the game being the last straw.