POLICE in Myanmar are searching for a Scottish teacher whose colleague has been found dead with head wounds.
Harris Binotti, 25, from Dumfries, is believed to have left the country, formerly known as Burma, and taken a flight to Thailand on Saturday.
Police have requested help from Interpol.
Mr Binotti is believed to have spent the night drinking with his colleague Gary Ferguson, 47, in the commercial capital of the country.
A police officer in Rangoon said: "At the time they were together drinking. They were talking and fighting."
His wife reportedly discovered him with head and chest wounds in Mr Binotti's flat on Sunday morning after he failed to return home.
Mr Binotti is wanted on suspicion of carrying out the attack. He left the country without informing anyone.
Both Britons taught English at the Horizon International School in the city, which is also known as Yangon.
The victim had worked at the school for a year while Mr Binotti had been there for around three months, a school spokesman said.
The spokesman said: "We don't know exactly what happened.
"They were together and they had been drinking and enjoying the night and after that he (Mr Ferguson) was found dead on Sunday morning.
"They were friends but they had been drinking.
"He (Mr Binotti) is now missing and there is an investigation.
"We send our condolences to Mr Ferguson's family."
Mr Ferguson's wife is thought to be a Thai national.
A school secretary, who gave her name as Yamin, said: "We are very shocked about the news.
"These two teachers were very close friends so everyone is shocked."
Mr Binotti is thought to be from Dumfries but also lived in Aberdeen.
A statement from the Burmese Ministry of Information said Mr Binotti had left the country.
It stated: "The defendant of the case left from Yangon International Airport by Thai Airways on the evening on November 5."
Police in Thailand were unwilling to comment on the possibility that he may have entered the kingdom or used it as a transit point, reported the Associated Foreign Press.
Captain Koe Myo, head of police in the area of Yangon where Mr Ferguson's body was found, said: "Now it becomes a cross-border case and it is formally up to the Interpol to deal with the process.”
A spokesman for the Foreign Office said: "We are providing help and support to the family of a British national following a death in Rangoon, Burma, and are in touch with the local authorities."
A Facebook page for Mr Binotti shows that he had a number of different jobs before taking up a post as an English teacher in Rangoon.
These ranged from being a holiday representative, a ski representative and an assistant duty hotel manager.
He worked briefly at the Balcary Bay Hotel where the owner said Mr Binotti's appointment "didn't work out".
The page was taken down hours after images from the public posts appeared on news sites around the world.
At the scene in Myanmar, reporters challenged a woman leaving the apartment who was described as Mr Harris' partner about his whereabouts.
The woman, said to be a Belgian national and who covered her face with a scarf as she quit apartment block, refused to answer questions.
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