A 39-year-old Russian woman named Alena has died in Pattaya, Thailand, following a severe motorbike crash, according to the Shot Telegram channel.
Alena, a resident of the Siberian city of Bratsk, had traveled to the Southeast Asian nation to seek work at a local travel agency. She was involved in a road traffic collision on August 22 and suffered severe head trauma.
Pattaya is a major resort city situated on the eastern coast of the Gulf of Thailand, popular among foreign tourists and expatriates. Bratsk is an industrial center located in Russia's Irkutsk Oblast in eastern Siberia.
Hospitalization and medical condition
Emergency services rushed Alena to an intensive care unit while she was unconscious. Medical personnel placed her on mechanical ventilation as her condition deteriorated rapidly.
Doctors later reported that her pupils stopped reacting to light. Hospital staff prohibited her family from transferring her to another medical facility due to her grave condition.
Mechanical ventilators are life-support machines used in intensive care units to move breathable air into and out of the lungs for patients unable to breathe on their own.
Withdrawal of life support
Medical staff informed Alena's relatives that they intended to disconnect her from the life-support machine. Her sister flew to Thailand on August 23 and signed the necessary agreement allowing doctors to withdraw mechanical ventilation.
Shortly after the machine was disconnected, Alena's heart stopped beating and she passed away while in a coma.
Travel history and previous cases
According to the Shot Telegram channel, Alena had visited Thailand multiple times for holidays and fell in love with the country, leading to her desire to find employment there. Her last arrival in Thailand was in 2023.
Russian media previously reported on another separate incident in Thailand, where a Russian woman disappeared after a sudden divorce, leaving behind a messy apartment containing burnt candles and Tarot cards.
