Tourists flock to this idyllic beach — but a series of events have put into question what is going on at this paradise.
IT WAS supposed to be the holiday of a lifetime.
Ben Harrington, a 32-year-old British IT consultant, was on holiday with his brother Mark and a friend on the island of Koh Tao in August 2012.
The island of Koh Tao, otherwise known as Turtle Island, is a scuba diver’s dream, and thanks to Sairee Beach, on the west coast of this Thai island, tourism has flourished in recent years.
Adventure seekers rejoice in its spectacular underwater worlds, clear turquoise water and lush jungles, located in the Gulf of Thailand near the party islands of Koh Phangan and Koh Samui.
But Ben would become one of the first casualties in a string of mysterious deaths.
Behind the beauty of Koh Tao lies a macabre secret where local mafia allegedly rule, backpackers flock to party and, according to one
report, there are “enough deaths and suspicious disappearances to warrant the island its own CSI franchise”. In fact 95 British deaths alone have been accounted for in the past nine years, but other nationalities, including French and Russian, have become casualties on the island as well.
One local newspaper, The Samui Times,
reported the island has been dubbed “Death Island” amid wild speculation regarding the cause of recent tourist deaths.
It was 12:30am on August 30, 2012, when Ben died after what an inquest blamed as a road collision, after his motorbike crashed into an electricity pylon. He was driving alone at the time of the crash and his wallet and watch were never recovered.
Ben’s mum, Pat Harrington, has spent years looking for information from Thai authorities regarding her son’s death, but has been unsuccessful with Freedom of Information requests to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
It comes after the coroner at a British inquest gave a somewhat confusing conclusion: “I am not going to put [record] an accident because I don’t feel I have got sufficient evidence to be satisfied it definitely was an accident, but clearly it was a collision of some form,” she wrote.
“We only have limited information. That is what quite often happens when you have a death abroad.”
Left without any answers, it’s led Pat to set up a change.org petition calling on the UK government to investigate deaths on the island.
“We had heard they use trip wires to get you off your bike and trip you up so they can mug you. These stories are not concrete evidence, but we think possibly this is what could have happened to Ben, because when he was found he had no belongings on him at all. No money. Nothing.
“We’ve heard stories of similar so called accidents.”
A series of unexplained events have created havoc for this island paradise and some now refer to this haven as a “tourist trap”. As body parts are found floating in its waters, and bodies pop-up in its swanky pools, some within this small, untouched part of the world fear a serial killer is on the loose.
“Koh Tao can be paradise but it can also be extremely dangerous for the unwary,” wrote Australian lawyer Ian Yarwood.
“Potential tourists to that island need to be warned and not given a sense of false security.”
Koh Tao was plunged into the spotlight when the semi-naked bodies of backpackers Hannah Witheridge, 23, and David Miller, 24, were found on the same beach where Ben was staying. Witheridge was raped before she was murdered.
Their battered bodies were discovered on the southern diving resort of Koh Tao in September 2014.
In the hours after the bodies were found, officers failed to seal off the crime scene or close the island’s port.
Gruesome pictures of the victims’ bodies also quickly emerged online, piling on the misery of their distraught families.
The trial of two Myanmar migrants accused of the murders has faced heavy scrutiny in a case that sullied the kingdom’s reputation as a tourist haven and raised questions over its justice system.
Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Tun were found guilty and sentenced to death for murdering the pair of British holiday-makers.
Investigators were accused of failing to properly collect and preserve DNA samples and declining to test key pieces of evidence, such as Ms Witheridge’s clothes.
Less than two weeks later, another body appeared at the same beach that the bodies of Ms Witheridge and Mr Miller were found.
The body of British bricklayer Luke Miller, 24, was found at the bottom of a hotel swimming pool at Sunset Bar on Sairee Beach after spending the prior night drinking with friends.
The night of his death, Mr Miller became separated from his friends and his body was discovered the next morning.
Luke was no relation to David Miller, but suspicion was aroused that Luke’s death was somehow connected to the first deaths.
Mr Miller flew to Thailand on December 22, 2015, with his friend James Gissing and was to spend five weeks on holiday.
“Our friend was murdered in Koh Tao on January 8. He was beaten and dumped into a swimming pool at Sunset Bar on Sairee Beach. I know this message will probably be removed but if one person sees this who is considering going to Koh Tao my advise to you is don’t. If you do decide that you want to risk your lives despite the inherent dangers,” Nichola reportedly posted days after the death.
Valentina Novozhyonova, 23, vanished from her hostel on Koh Tao in mid-February, sparking a huge police search.
A few days later, staff checked her room to discover her mobile phone, passport and camera had all been left behind.
The Samui Times speculates that six weeks ago, “the body of a young girl was found partially burnt, eaten by animals and partially wrapped in T-shirts”.
In 2015 the body of a French tourist was found outside his bungalow. The death of Dimitri Povse, 29, was ruled a suicide, with police saying there were no signs of a struggle and a suicide note was left in the room, according to local media site Thai PBS.
Another British holiday-maker, 25-year-old Nick Pearson, was found dead in the water with his death ruled a drowning after falling.
His parents suspect otherwise, in part due to a large gash found on his head.
“He would never have gone swimming of his own accord,” his mother Tracy said.
“And if he’d fallen from his bungalow, 50ft down (15 metres), his body would have been stopped by the rocks or badly injured.
“He didn’t look like someone who had been in the water for hours — there was still dried blood on his face.”
Source: news.com.au, Matt Young, September 17, 2017
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