Hong Kong police have charged a 36-year-old man with manslaughter after reclassifying a suspected drug-related death from last week as a more serious offence.
A police spokesman said on Wednesday that officers had upgraded the case of a 24-year-old man found unconscious in a hotel room in Tsim Sha Tsui, charging the 36-year-old discovered in the corridor of the same hotel with manslaughter.
“After police in-depth investigation, it was believed that the 36-year-old foreign man attempted suicide with the 24-year-old man by taking drugs,” the force spokesman said.
Police first received a report at 3.54pm last Friday from a non-Chinese man who told his friend he intended to take his own life. When officers arrived at a hotel on Nathan Road, they found the 36-year-old man lying in the corridor and a 24-year-old man unconscious inside a room.
Both were taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Yau Ma Tei, where the younger man was later certified dead at 7.26pm. The case was initially classified as a death on arrival.
A source familiar with the case told the Post that the two men had arranged to meet at the hotel.
