The discovery was made by a jet-ski driver who raised the alarm. The dead man’s throat had been slit.

Muang Pattaya Police Station superintendent Pol Colonel Apichai Krobphetch called an urgent meeting yesterday morning to discuss the case, which police now expect will become a murder investigation, according to deputy inspector Pol Captain Wattana Pradit. They have so far been unable to establish the man’s name or nationality.

Officers were dispatched to the Ban Koh Larn area to gather information while a scuba team from the Sawang Boriboon Foundation and police returned to the scene to search for evidence.

The 33-year-old Cambodian jet-ski driver who found the body told police he was circling around the area to warn tourist clients against riding in the rocky area of the beach. When he did a U-turn towards the beach, he spotted the body floating in the water.