The sudden death of a Belfast man in Thailand has been described as “devastating” by his family

Cillian McMinn (28), who was from the Rosetta area of south Belfast, died in Bangkok on Sunday, October 5.

His remains are set to repose at his family home from Tuesday.

Mr McMinn is survived by his mother Anna, aunt Keavy, grandmother Joanna and grandfather Joe.

Anna said her son, who was a keen traveller, had only been in Thailand for a short time as he made his way to Vietnam.

She said she doesn’t know how her son died but that an autopsy has been carried out and it may take up to three months for Thai authorities to produce a “full report”.

“Unfortunately, we do not know what happened,” she added.

“We hadn’t heard from him in a day, which wasn’t that unusual.

“But a friend of his contacted me worried that he hadn’t heard from him in 24 hours, so there was a couple of people worried about him, including myself.”

Anna and her mother Joanna flew to Thailand last week and because insurance was in place they were able to return to Belfast with his Cillian’s remains within days.

Despite this they have asked for donations to be made to The Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust—which assists families in returning their loved ones’ remains to Ireland following an overseas death—in lieu of flowers.

More than £1,100 has been raised so far.

“We just thought it was an appropriate cause for somebody less fortunate than us that finds themselves in this situation,” she said.

Mr McMinn made headlines a decade ago when as an 18-year-old he raised more than £90,000 from crowd funding for a business idea to devise ‘The Element Cube’, which contained over 60 elements in one compact cube and could be made into jewellery.

The teenager had left school two years earlier without completing his A-levels.

Anna described the time as a “very proud moment”.

“He left Aquinas at 16 and quietly went off and did that himself, without any of us or anyone else knowing, no support from anywhere,” she said.

“He was a serial inventor and entrepreneur and had multiple ideas like that.”

“He was very creative, he was very artistic…he was inventing stuff from he was a kid, constantly inventing things, constantly having business ideas.

“That was the one that was implemented—a teenager and a laptop.”

Mr McMinn’s aunt Keavy paid her own tribute on social media.

“Some tragic news,” she wrote.

“My nephew Cillian died last week, while traveling in Thailand.

“He was such a smart, creative, brave kid. 28 years old.

“It’s a devastating loss for our family and all of his friends.

“Rest in peace, kiddo.”

Described by his mother as a “militant atheist”, Mr McMinn’s remains will be removed from his home on Thursday and brought to Antrim and Newtownabbey Crematorium for a humanist service to celebrate his life at 1pm.

To make a donation to the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust please visit: https://cillianmcminn.muchloved.com/.