The body of a beheaded man recently found in a sewer in Phuket's Thalang district has sparked a fresh police investigation into the cause of death.
The corpse of the unidentified man was spotted in the sewer by a delivery man as he was searching for a car key he thought he had accidentally dropped into the underground pipe on Thep Krasattri Road.
Police officers, led by Pol Lt Col Nathaphop Phongsapan, deputy Thalang police chief, were yesterday called to the area, located in front of the Hotel & Home Innovation shop, but they could find no clues relating to the dead man's identity.
The body was decomposing but the officers were still able to make out the gender.
The man was wearing a T-shirt and jeans. He wore two wrist bands on his left hand and had a tattoo on his left arm.
Officers believe the man had been dead for about one week.
Later in the day, authorities found the head of the corpse about 700 metres away in a secluded woodland area.
Near the head, a plastic belt was found hanging from a tree with some flesh and clothes stuck to it.
Pol Lt Col Anukul Nooket, deputy chief of Thalang police station, said he thought it possible that the man hanged himself and once decomposition set in, the body fell to the ground and was washed by the recent heavy floods to the location it was found in.
Doctors at Thalang hospital have been asked to conduct an autopsy to ascertain the cause of death.
Officers have yet to rule out other assumptions, including murder. The investigation is now focusing on identifying the man. They were checking for complaints filed with local police over missing persons, hoping to meet his relatives so that they will have more information about his background and some clues that will shed light on his death.
Mongkhon Kongsaen, the driver who found the corpse, described his encounter with the beheaded body as "strange".
The 35-year-old earlier parked his car in the area to have a meal. When he went back to his vehicle, he could not find the key. This caused him to look into the sewer.
"After the corpse was taken out, I found my key in a nearby area," Mr Mongkhon said. "That's was strange."