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The bodies of an Australian man and his American friend were found slumped together on the floor of a guest house bar in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai on Monday, police said.

An initial investigation found Charles Clayton Burgess, 39, from Box Hill in NSW, and Scott Ray Sturgess, 42, from San Diego, California, may have died from heart failure after drinking too much, police Lieutenant Colonel Boonlert Jantanoodej said.

The Nation newspaper said Burgess was the owner of the bar-guest house and Sturgess was a friend who was in Thailand as a tourist.

The two men had been drinking with friends in the ground floor bar of the guest house from midday on Sunday, Boonlert said.

They were last seen still drinking and shooting pool early on Monday.

The two men were found slumped on the floor near the pool table later this morning, Boonlert said.

A post-mortem exam found traces of narcotics in their blood but there was no physical sign on their bodies that they had used drugs, he said.

AdvertisementPolice said the cocktail of drugs and alcohol could have contributed to their deaths.

Chiang Mai is close to the Golden Triangle, the drug-producing region where the borders of Burma, Laos and Thailand meet.

AP