Pattaya, April 13th, 2026 – Police and rescue teams were called to a grim scene on Koh Larn after the decomposed body of a young Myanmar man was discovered at the base of a steep cliff near a paragliding launch site.
At around 4:00 PM on April 13th, 2026, Pol. Lt. Kriengkrai Kaewphibhop, Deputy Investigator at Pattaya City Police Station, received a report of a body found fallen from a cliff in the paragliding area close to the “Giant Cliff” on the southern side of Koh Larn.Officers, along with investigators from the Police Forensic Division 2 in Chonburi, a duty doctor, and rescue volunteers from the Sawang Boriboon Thammasathan Foundation Pattaya, rushed to the location. Due to the remote and rugged terrain, rescue teams had to hike more than 300 meters above sea level to reach the clifftop paragliding spot.The body was found approximately 20 meters down a near-vertical 90-degree cliff face, lying face down. His condition indicated he had been dead for at least 72 hours, with the body already badly decomposed.Rescuers had to rappel down the cliff using ropes, taking nearly an hour to carefully recover the body. An initial on-site examination could not determine the exact cause of death due to the advanced state of decomposition. The body was then transported to the Forensic Medicine Institute at Police General Hospital in Bangkok for a detailed autopsy.
Personal belongings found near the edge of the cliff included a black bag, a body temperature monitoring sheet, a mobile phone, a smartwatch, two bottles of sleeping pills, and a passport identifying the victim as Mr. Chan Tha (or Shan Thar), a 28-year-old Myanmar national. When police examined the phone, they found it was set entirely in the Myanmar language, and all items were documented as evidence.Mr. Sutthiphong Bunmachai, head of the marine operations unit at the Sawang Boriboon Foundation Pattaya, stated that the discovery was first made by paragliding enthusiasts who had come to the area for the sport. They noticed a foul smell, looked over the edge of the cliff, and spotted the body lying face down below. They immediately alerted police and rescue services.Initial speculation suggests the man may have been resting or lying near the edge of the cliff and was hiking, based on his health chart and monitoring, and accidentally slipped or fell to his death. However, authorities added that the exact cause remains under investigation pending the full forensic results.
