Body of 31-year-old Thai model, missing for a year, found in Bahrain morgue; Family suspects foul play

A 31-year-old Thai model who went missing a year ago in Bahrain has been found in a mortuary, with her family demanding an investigation into her death, British newspaper Daily Mirror reports.

Kaikan Kenakam worked as a model, but when her work commitments diminished, she moved to Bahrain, where she worked in a restaurant to support her family in northeastern Thailand.

The woman had regularly updated her family through social media and told them that she had met her Bahraini boyfriend and was living with him.

However, in April 2023, Kaikan stopped posting on his social media accounts, causing concerns among his family. The Daily Mirror reports that they could not reach the model on the phone.

In January, Kaikan’s family asked the Thai Embassy in Bahrain for help in locating her, but despite some assistance from the Thai community in the Gulf country, she was nowhere to be found.

On 18 April, the Thai Embassy in Bahrain informed the family that the body of an unidentified Southeast Asian woman had been kept at the Salmaniya Medical Complex mortuary in Manama since last year.

Kaikan was identified by a tattoo on his leg and the cause of his death was described as ‘acute pulmonary and heart failure due to alcohol poisoning’, the Daily Mirror reported.

Her family suspects foul play and are seeking to repatriate her body to Thailand, a process they say is expensive without travel insurance.

In an online post on April 19, Kaikan’s sister wrote, “My sister started working in Bahrain about two or three years ago and she found an Arab boyfriend there.”

“However, we have not been able to contact him since April last year. Our family contacted the Thai Embassy in Bahrain and learned on April 18 this month that he had died,” he said.

They also said that there were injury marks on his body, while the embassy said that the cause of his death was alcohol poisoning.

“The embassy in Bahrain recorded the cause of death as alcohol intoxication, but photographs of her body showed injury marks. We could not bring her body back because repatriation is expensive. My mother also wants the case should be reopened and an autopsy should be conducted again,” he added.