The man, named by police as Thiraphat Hongkaew from Nakhon Sri Thammarat, was an employee at a mobile phone shop in a shopping centre in Wichit.
Tha Chatchai Police said they were alerted at 5:42pm on Thursday by the Phuket Provincial Police 191 radio centre that a man had leapt from the bridge’s observation tower on the Phang Nga side, in Khok Kloi, Takua Thung District.
Witnesses described him as fair-skinned, wearing a brown long-sleeved shirt, grey trousers and sneakers. He was seen plunging into the water before disappearing beneath the surface.
Rescue workers from the Kusontham Phuket Foundation, along with local fishermen and volunteers from the Mai Khao Tambon Administrative Organisation (OrBorTor), immediately launched a search by boat, supported by diving teams combing the waters beneath the Sarasin, Thao Srisoonthorn and Thao Thepkrasattri bridges, which connect Phuket to Phang Nga.
Relatives of Mr Thiraphat have been at the scene since yesterday morning, lighting incense at the bridge in the hope of appeasing local spirits to aid in locating his body.
The search was called off at nightfall on Thursday due to rising sea levels and poor visibility in the water. Operations resumed this morning with an expanded search radius, both offshore and along nearby beaches, but no sign of Mr Thiraphat has yet been found.
Officials and rescue teams have vowed to continue their efforts to search until the body is recovered.
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