A Japanese man set himself on fire and jumped to death from the Thaniya Plaza building in Bang Rak district of Bangkok late Wednesday.
At about 11pm police from Bang Rak station found the charred body of the man on the ground-floor hall that functioned as a beer hall. They found a driver's licence and social security card of Shinji Watanabe, 37, of Yokohama, Japan on the body.
Surveillance-camera footage showed the man stood in a fourth-floor corridor for a while and then he covered himself in oil, set himself ablaze and plunged to the ground floor. Security guards put out the flames with fire extinguishers but could not save him.
Police found a plastic bottle containing oil on the fourth-floor. They also found several packs of medicine on the body. Police contacted the Japanese embassy for more information.
On Thursday Pol Lt Col Phumyos Lekla, interrogator of the Bang Rak station, said Mr Watanabe had stayed at a rented room at LA Tower Mansion in Din Daeng district, Bangkok, since last December.
Police found sleeping pills and tranquillizer drugs in the room. Witnesses said that he had been an introvert.