Don't let its luxurious and vibrant local fool you. This Thailand island has a dark reputation, garnering the nickname Death Island. It's grim reputation comes from the fact that tourists keep dying there.
We're talking about the island of Koh Tao. Within the past 10 years, several tourists have died on the island. More recently, an Irish tourist died in his hostel bedroom. According to medical findings, 21-year-old Robby Kinlan died from acute pulmonary cardiac failure.
His mother described him to Daily Mail, "He just walked in one day and said, 'I am going to Thailand. I have already booked the ticket.' It's all he wanted to do. That's where all the diving was. He was doing very, very well over there and supported himself through his [diving] qualifications. His personality was his talent - and I would say to him, 'Robby, you have to be an actor or a barman' or someone who deals with the public in some way.'"
Death Island, Unfair or Just?
"The room had not been broken into or searched, and there were no signs of any assault. He died alone in the room," Lt Colonel Theeraphat Sanjai said. "His friend confirmed that he didn't know if he had any pre-existing medical conditions."
The 21-year-old's death is the latest tourist death to plague the island. I don't know if Death Island is necessarily a fair moniker to give the island, but the name has began to stick in recent memory. I mean there's bound to be deaths and crime in any tourist spot. Additionally, of the dozen or so tourist deaths over the past decade, several came as either suicides or accidents.
However, the families of the victims claim that the cases appear suspicious or weren't properly investigated. So there's that. What's also not helping the island's rep as Death Island is the stories of rape and violence that have happened there. Again, though I don't know if that's really fair. Take America and all of its crime for instance.
What really kicked off the moniker of Death Island was the deaths of Hannah Witheridge and David Miller in 2014. Both tourists got brutally bludgeoned to death with their bodies found on the beach. What makes families of victims untrusting of the island's officials is that an initial autopsy ruled out foul play for the two. However, later investigation found that they had been slaughtered. Authorities later arrested locals Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo for the crime, but questions about whether they committed the crimes remain.
Since then several more deaths have caused the island to continue to gain a reputation for death. Hence Death Island.
