The 19-year-old younger brother of Cherprang Areekul, manager of the popular Thai girl group BNK48, died after falling from the 27th floor of a luxury condominium in Bangkok’s Klong San district early yesterday.
His fall was reported to local police at about 3.45am.
Police, medics from Siriraj Hospital and first responders from the Ruamkatanyu Foundation rushed to the scene on Krung Thon Buri Road in the Thon Buri area.
They found Chan Areekul lying face down with a cracked skull on the 5th-floor car park. He was wearing trousers, but no shirt.
Police investigators said the teenager left his room on the 9th floor alone, took an elevator to the 27th floor at around 2am and then plummeted to his death shortly afterwards.
Police were questioning Chan’s friends, including his girlfriend, who was with him in the room before the incident. Police said the girl told them she was in the bathroom when he left. She said she went looking for him before learning he had died.
Chan’s body was later sent to King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital for an autopsy. His family was shown a CCTV clip of him taking the elevator to the top floor, which did not indicate any foul play was involved in his death, police said.
Chan had been a member of the national youth bowling team since 2020.
He was the younger brother of Ms Cherprang of BNK48 fame — an international sister group of the Japanese girl group AKB48. Ms Cherprang, 26, was a first-generation member of BNK48 who now serves as its general manager.