Man jumped out of plane to avoid illness

A Westerner who died when he jumped out of a plane over the Gulf of Thailand was an Italian pilot who apparently committed suicide to avoid suffering the final stages of leukaemia, police said today.

The body of Andrea Petersek, 45, was found Monday about three miles off the coast of Pattaya, a well-known resort town. Two days earlier he mysteriously kicked out the door of a rented two-seater plane and plunged to his death.

Petersek’s Thai wife, told police he said he wanted to commit suicide because a doctor in Italy told him there was almost no chance he would recover from leukaemia, said police Lt. Col. Sathien Laokim-ung.

The pilot of the plane, which the man rented for a flight on Saturday, told police when they were aloft, the man kicked out the door of the single-engine aircraft and jumped into the sea carrying a bag.

The action caused the pilot to momentarily lose control of the plane, but he managed to land safely even with the door missing.