Citing police sources, the TNA news agency said Tatiana Tsimfer, 30, and Liubov Svirkova, 25, have been shot point blank by an unidentified Thai man when they were sunbathing at the beach area of Jomthien near Pattaya.
Local police have launched an investigation into the murder singling out a local beach chair concessionaire as possible suspect because witnesses saw the Russian tourists quarreling with him earlier.
Press attache of the Russian Embassy in Thailand, Alexey Bulkin, confirmed Saturday the murder of two Russian women, who arrived at the Dragon Beach Resort hotel on February 16, and said an embassy official had been sent to the resort to monitor the ongoing police investigation.
Thailand's eastern seaboard resort of Jomthien, adjacent to Pattaya, is located about 110 kilometers (70 miles) southeast of Bangkok and is very popular among Russian tourists.
