Police and rescue workers were called to Sarita Mansion at the Phoon Phon area at 11am.
Phuket City Police Chief Col Kamol Osiri and Deputy Superintendent Lt Col Chao Phomna both arrived in person, as did Pol Capt Virat Khongkhawhai, who received the report.
The woman* was in a state of deep distress, and hung one leg over the ledge, pulled it back and then swung the other leg over in seeming indecisiveness over whether to launch herself over the side of the building.
Kusoldharm rescue workers and officers from the Phuket City branch of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation attempted to talk the woman back to safety, but she climbed over the edge and ended up grabbing hold of a small seam in the bricks to prevent her from falling further.
Unable to recover the woman from the side of the building, the woman fell, plunging three stories onto the ground-floor awning below before bouncing onto the concrete street.
The woman was bleeding from the head as rescue workers rushed her to Vachira Phuket Hospital.
The woman, originally from Bangkok, lived on the third floor of the building, a woman who said she was a friend to the victim told The Phuket News at the scene.
The friend said the woman was working in Phuket, but did not specify what she did to make a living.
In the woman’s room, police found four A4 sheets of paper with hand-written messages that officers believe were written by the woman. The messages explained how she felt she had failed in her life and that no one understood her.
Phuket City Police Chief Col Kamol explained to The Phuket News this afternoon, “We heard the rumours that the woman said she had been raped and I ordered my investigators to look into this.
“My investigators said the reason for this incident was about that she had been raped. The real cause is that she was depressed. She was heartbroken because her partner was going to leave her,” Col Kamol said.
“Everything happened so quickly. When I arrived the woman was already on her way to hospital. She was still conscious, but obviously have not yet been able to question her,” he added.
Doctors at Vachira Phuket Hospital have yet to confirm the extent the woman’s injuries.
* Name withheld by The Phuket News.
Key reporting by Tanyaluk Skoot. Additional reporting by Eakkapop Thongtub.
If you know of someone in need of help... There is a "One Stop Crisis Centre" at each government hospital on the island that can help people cope with emotional distress, or Thai speakers can call the 1300 help hotline.