Yanada had been suffering from a stress disorder triggered by her recent break-up with her boyfriend and a problem with short-term memory, police quoted her friends as saying.

She had tried to kill herself by overdosing on drugs last month but was saved by a friend, they said.

When police entered her room they found her personal computer was running and her MSN messenger account open with the last message to her friends on the screen. They also found an empty whisky bottle and three empty soft-drink cans. Neighbours heard no signs of fighting from inside her room yesterday morning. An autopsy will be performed to determine whether she was drinking before she jumped, police said.

She was pronounced dead at Thammasat Hospital.

A friend described Yanada as a bright student who had previously studied at Chulalongkorn and Thammasat universities. She did not say why Yanada switched to Bangkok University, where she was majoring in English. She was a generous, loving and caring person, one friend said. Others said they were shocked and grief-stricken. - The Nation