Police are investigating a mystery body that was found decaying alongside a rubbish dump in Thailand.

The bloated corpse was discovered by electricians repairing a damaged power cable along Highway 331 in 'Sin City' Pattaya, on March 4.

Shocked workers called the cops, who arrived at the grassy area next to the a dirt road at around 11 am. They found the dead man, believed to be a security guard named Watchara Nokngam, 52, buried under a pile of rubbish and covered in maggots.

He was wearing three layers of shirts, jeans, and white sandals. A black bag was slung over his chest containing an ID, an ATM card, a pack of cigarettes, and a piece of paper with his wife and daughter's phone numbers.

Police Captain Newin Suntavanik of the Huai Yai District Police Station said: 'We believe the man had passed away three or four days earlier based on the state of decomposition. We could not perform a proper inspection of the body because it was already rotting.'

The officer added that 'suspicious' tyre tracks and marks on the grass were found, possibly indicating the body had been dragged to the area.

The electrician who found the body, Weerapong Chiangka, 44, said: 'We were hired to cut a tree that had toppled onto an electric cable.

'When we finished the job, we were tidying up our rubbish when one of my colleagues found a strange item with flies buzzing all around it. He went closer and he found a human arm peeking out from under the pile. We immediately called the police.'

Police later called Watchara's wife, Rattikarn Nokngam, 46, for questioning.

She said she and Watchara were separated but not divorced.

She added: 'We have a 7-year-old daughter together. He works as a security guard for a private company in Rayong. We last saw each other on February 27, when he visited our daughter because she was having a nosebleed. We never spoke again after that. He usually talks to my daughter instead of me.'

Police Major General Itthiporn Phothong, deputy commissioner of Provincial Police Region 2, said the body was undergoing a post-mortem exam at the Pattaya Patmakul Hospital. He said that investigations were ongoing.

He added: ‘An initial examination found no wounds on the body. However, we have to wait for the post-mortem results before concluding anything.

‘We have also summoned the wife of the person whose ID card we found. She provided helpful information for this case.'

Former fishing village Pattaya became popular with American troops on 'rest and relaxation' breaks in the 1960s when the U.S. military had bases in Thailand. In the ensuing years, the coastal resort spawned into a semi-barbarous sex-tourism hellscape.

Embarrassed officials have made progress in gentrifying the region with family tourism projects but a ravenous nightlife industry and corrupt police have hampered their efforts, with undesirables from all nations still attracted to the seedy city.