The missing iPad, abandoned boat and last call: Mystery surrounds death of Aussie elite private school graduate found dead on an idyllic Thai island.
Thai police are probing the mysterious death of a Sydney man who took a small boat out in the middle of the night and never returned.
Robert Wojcik had moved to the picturesque island of Ko Pu, nestled off the country’s west coast, since 2019 after growing up in Australia.
The talented sailor graduated from Sydney’s illustrious $39,000-a-year Scots College in 2010 before travelling the world working as a divemaster.
Family and friends raised the alarm on June 2 when he failed to return from a late-night trip out on the water.
The next morning local fishermen set out to find the Australian, but only uncovered an empty vessel floating on the water.
The keys to the boat were still in the ignition and his wallet and backpack were on-board, according to a post shared on a Facebook page for expats in nearby Phuket.
The only item missing was his iPad which he used to talk with family in Australia while living overseas.
It’s believed the last contact he had before disappearing was with his father at 9.30pm on the night he vanished.
As the desperate search continued, authorities eventually uncovered his body.
‘The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is providing consular assistance to the family of an Australian who recently died in Thailand,’ a DFAT spokesman said in a statement.
‘Owing to our privacy obligations we will not provide further comment.’
Mr Wojcik had been living in Thailand since December 2019 and even remained in the tourist-friendly Southeast Asian nation during the height of the Covid pandemic.
The engine onboard the boat he was travelling in was ‘known’ to be faulty, but so far mystery surrounds his death and a cause is yet to be determined.
DFAT is now in talks with Mr Wojcik’s family to bring his body home to Sydney.
There was an outpouring of grief online after news of the popular young man’s death emerged.
‘You made my life fun and kept me on my toes from the moment you were born,’ Mr Wojcik’s relative Alex Skoumbourdis wrote.
‘You became my best friend and grew into someone who I was proud of.
‘You were a beam of light the moment you walked into a room, with your stories, your smile, your laugh … and your charisma.’
‘He was a great human, talented sailor and generally an all rounder in all that he touched. Such sad news. RIP Rob. You were a great young man- taken way too young,’ added Lisa Gard.
