On Saturday, Thai authorities announced that they had found the body of a Chinese woman who had been missing for almost a week.
According to the Bangkok Post, during their inspection of a desolate site close to a housing complex in Chachoengsao Province, approximately 50 km east of Bangkok, on Saturday at midday, officers discovered a severed torso, including what seemed to be human limbs, that was thought to have belonged to 38-year-old Yan Ruimin.
The identification will not be formally confirmed until the police receive the final DNA test results.
An acquaintance of Yan’s reported losing touch with Yan on June 30 and lodged a complaint with the local police on Friday, prompting the search.
According to the acquaintance, Yan was planning to go to Phuket on July 2.
According to The Nation, preliminary investigations revealed that on June 26, Yan travelled solo from Malaysia to Thailand.
Yan went to Pattaya on June 28 and 29. After touching down in Bangkok on June 30, she resided in a hotel for a while before relocating to the Rama 9 neighbourhood to stay with a friend.
A Chinese man named Ma Qingyan picked her up in a rental car from Sukhumvit Soi 12 on July 1 after she took a Grab taxi there.
Initially, Ma was the primary suspect after police discovered blood in the car and in Ma’s Bangkok hotel room. But he departed from Thailand long ago.
Among Chinese internet users, Yan Ruimin is well-known as an influencer. On the Chinese social media site Xiaohongshu, she goes by the username “Ruiming” and has about 11,000 followers.
At this point in the year, Chinese tourists have been the most numerous visitors to Thailand.