POIPET, CAMBODIA – The death of a 27-year-old Thai woman who fell from a multi-storey building in the Cambodian border town of Poipet has reignited concerns about safety and suspected criminal networks operating in the area.
Mystery surrounds the fatal fall
Local reports identified the victim as Kanokwan Chaluaysaeng, known to friends as Baimon, originally from Khon Kaen province in northeastern Thailand. Her body was discovered lying on her back outside a five-storey building in Poipet, with no visible blood or immediate signs of struggle.
Images first appeared on Facebook, posted by a user under the name “Kor Khae Khon Thammada”, meaning “just an ordinary man”. He claimed the building housed a stock trading company and alleged that “many Thais have died there without successful investigations.” The same user pledged to expose the truth behind the latest case, hinting at a worrying pattern of unsolved deaths involving Thai nationals in Poipet.
Community shocked by victim’s identity
Back in Thailand, villagers in Non Nong Wat community were stunned as television footage confirmed Baimon’s identity. Patcharee Chomsri, a 51‑year‑old neighbour, said she recognised the woman immediately from news images. Baimon had grown up with her grandmother, aunt and uncle before leaving home at the age of ten to live with her mother in another province. “She never came back,” Patcharee said, describing disbelief at learning her former neighbour had died abroad under such troubling circumstances.
Political pressure mounting for joint investigation
The incident quickly drew reaction from Kannavee Suebsang, a Thai parliamentarian from the Fair Party, who demanded urgent government action. In a public post, he urged authorities in Bangkok to work closely with Cambodian counterparts to ensure transparency in cross‑border investigations and to confront what he described as a worsening problem of transnational crime along the frontier.
“ANOTHER THAI BODY WAS FOUND AFTER FALLING FROM A BUILDING IN POIPET,”
he wrote, calling the repeated deaths intolerable.
The lawmaker’s remarks reflected growing unease about Poipet’s reputation. The city, adjacent to Thailand’s Sa Kaeo province, has long been a magnet for casinos, trading houses and irregular labour markets. Analysts have often linked the region to illegal gambling and human trafficking, issues that complicate law enforcement across national jurisdictions.
Second case in months raises serious questions
Authorities noted that a similar incident occurred in January, when a 31‑year‑old Thai man from Kanchanaburi province died after falling from a building in the same city. The parallels—Thai victims, fatal falls, and no clear explanation—have deepened suspicions that more than coincidence lies behind the tragedies.
Officials in both countries now face growing public pressure to deliver thorough findings and to protect Thai citizens working or trading across the Cambodian border. For Baimon’s family and friends, however, the immediate reality remains one of grief and unanswered questions.
• Location: Poipet, Cambodia’s key border crossing with Thailand
• Victim: 27‑year‑old Thai woman from Khon Kaen
• Previous case: Thai man, 31, died in January under similar circumstances
• Calls for action: Thai MP urges bilateral probe into possible criminal activity
As investigations continue, the slow accumulation of unexplained deaths in Poipet has left communities on both sides of the frontier uneasy and searching for clarity in a place where, so far, few answers have emerged.