The Foreign Office is investigating reports that a British man shot himself in the head in an apparent suicide at a shooting range in Thailand.
Local reports say the man hailed a taxi after a row with a male friend and instructed the driver to take him somewhere he could shoot, and was heard arguing with somebody on his mobile phone during the journey.
Once at the Thalang range on Phuket, the man rented an 11mm handgun and fired off a magazine of six bullets at a target. He then asked for three more bullets before shooting himself in front of horrified staff.
A spokesman for the Foreign Office could not confirm the reports, but said: “We are urgently working with the authorities in Thailand to establish whether a British national has died in Phuket.” The man was identified locally as Liam Colven, 21, from the Isle of Skye who went to the range from the Bang Tao hotel. However, this has not been confirmed.
Footage of the incident was recorded on CCTV cameras at the shooting range, and shows an employee who was thought to be supervising trying to stop the man turning the gun on himself. The video, which has been posted online, shows the supervisor turning away and holding his head in horror.
Thai news outlet Phuketwan quoted a staff member from the firing range as saying: “He came by a taxi. He bought a ticket for shooting a 11mm handgun and then shot himself in the head.”
