BANGKOK — A 48-year-old woman suffering from depression and experiencing fears that someone would harm her jumped from the fourth floor of a Bangkok apartment with her 3-year-old daughter on Sept. 19, leaving both seriously injured.
Pol. Lt. Jutthaphon Mueang Song, deputy investigation inspector at Phaya Thai Police Station, was notified of the incident at Phet Siam Apartment on Soi Phetchaburi 37 in Makkasan, Ratchathewi district.
Police and emergency responders from Ramathibodi Hospital and the Ruam Katanyu Foundation rushed to the scene.
The apartment building is five stories high. Responders found the woman, identified as Yupin Chedchai, 48, and her 3-year-old daughter, Phattharin Thinsung, lying close together behind the building and breathing weakly.
Yupin was found lying on her back wearing a black short-sleeved shirt and white-and-black patterned shorts. Her daughter was lying face down and wearing a yellow short-sleeved top and shorts. A pink towel was also found nearby.
The two had fallen from the rear balcony of room 417 on the fourth floor. Rescue workers took both to Ramathibodi Hospital for treatment.
Police later went to the fourth-floor room and found the door locked from inside. Officers forced it open and found no signs of a struggle or disturbance inside.
Police learned that Yupin had separated from her husband and had been living in the apartment with her two daughters for several years. She was not working and had been diagnosed with depression, while her younger brother and other relatives helped pay her monthly rent of more than 3,000 baht and covered her daily living expenses.
According to witnesses, Yupin had previously experienced what they described as hallucinations and repeatedly told other residents that someone was going to harm her.
Pol. Lt. Jutthaphon said police had not yet interviewed Yupin because she was receiving medical treatment. Both mother and daughter were reported to be safe.
Based on statements from witnesses, police initially suspected that severe stress and fears that someone would harm her may have led Yupin to take her daughter and jump from the apartment.
The investigation remains ongoing.
