Singaporean vacationer dies after therapeutic massage at Phuket’s Patong seashore | USAEMALL.com

SINGAPORE: A Singaporean man has died in Phuket following a massage at Patong Beach while on holiday. 

The 52-year-old visited a massage shop at the popular tourist spot on Saturday (Dec 7), said the Bangkok Post citing Thai police. 

Mr Lee Mun Tuk, who was given an “oil body massage” for 45 minutes, stopped breathing shortly after the service. 

The shop’s staff asked the police and medics for help when Mr Lee failed to regain consciousness after being given CPR, said Patong police chief Chalermchai Hernsawad.

Khaosod English said Mr Lee had experienced breathing difficulties. His wife told the authorities she does not suspect foul play and said her husband had pre-existing health conditions. 

Mr Lee’s wife also did not agree to an autopsy and planned to take her husband’s body home for religious rites, reported Thai media. 

CNA has contacted the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs for more information. 

THAI SINGER DIES AFTER THREE MASSAGES

Although no cause of death has yet been established in the case of Mr Lee, the incident occurred the same weekend a Thai singer died after she received three massages in about a month. 

Two of them involved the twisting of her neck, said the Bangkok Post.

Chayada Prao-hom had posted about her condition on Facebook in early November, saying she sought treatment at the massage parlour in Udon Thani for body aches.

However, after the first session, she experienced pain in the back of her head. Her arm later began to grow numb and she returned to the massage parlour for a second session, which worsened her condition.

She explained in her Facebook post that she persisted with the treatment as she had studied Thai massage previously, and that her mother was also a masseuse. 

After her third session, she experienced swelling and bruises which developed into numbness in her chest and stomach. She eventually was unable to lift her right arm and said her body was functioning at less than 50 per cent. 

Ms Chayada was pronounced dead at a hospital in Udon Thani at about 6am on Sunday. She died from a blood infection and brain swelling, said Bangkok Post. 

Authorities are looking into whether the shop she visited is accredited and licensed to provide such services. 

According to the United States National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health’s website, the risk of harmful effects from massages is low. 

However, there have been rare reports of serious side effects, such as a blood clot, nerve injury or bone fracture.

Such cases usually involved vigorous types of massages, it added.