Thai Police Investigating Death of Foreign Woman in Phuket

BANGKOK—An investigation is underway in Thailand after the body of a Swiss woman was found Thursday at a secluded spot on the southern island of Phuket.

Thai media reported that the woman’s partially clothed body was lying face down in a rock crevice near a waterfall and appeared to have been concealed by a sheet. Personal documents nearby showed she was 57 years old.

The circumstances of the death weren’t immediately clear, but Thai Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tanee Sangrat said in a message posted to an online media group that Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai had contacted the Swiss ambassador to express his condolences “on the murder of a Swiss woman in Phuket.”

Tanee said the Phuket governor has promised an immediate investigation and autopsy.

The Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs said in an e-mail it was aware of the death of “an alleged Swiss citizen” in Phuket and that the victim had not yet been definitively identified. The Swiss Embassy in Bangkok was in contact with Thai authorities, it said, while declining to comment further for privacy reasons.

Thai police have not yet commented.