BANGKOK (AP) — Preliminary autopsy results showed traces of cyanide in the blood of six Vietnamese and American guests at a luxury hotel in central Bangkok and one of them may have poisoned the others because of a bad investment, Thai authorities said Wednesday.
THE Bodies were found on Tuesday at the Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok, a landmark located at a central intersection in the capital, busy with shopping malls, government buildings and public transport.
The six women were last seen alive Monday afternoon, when food was delivered to them. Staff saw one woman receive the food and security footage showed the others arriving one by one shortly afterward. There were no other visitors, no one was seen leaving and the door was locked. A housekeeper found them Tuesday afternoon when they had not left the room.
Lt. Gen. Trairong Piwpan, head of the Thai police’s forensic division, said there were traces of cyanide in the cups and thermoses police found in the room.
The results of the autopsy of the six bodies, conducted at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn Hospital, confirmed the reports. Kornkiat Vongpaisarnsin, head of the forensic medicine department at Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Medicine, told a news conference that cyanide had been found in the blood of all six bodies and that a CT scan showed no signs of blunt force trauma, reinforcing the hypothesis of poisoning.
Chulalongkorn Medical School Dean Chanchai Sittipunt said the team “thinks cyanide is the solution.”
“We don’t know if they were taking sleeping pills or other substances, but we can tell enough from the cyanide to determine that,” he said, referring to the cause of death.
Bangkok police chief Lt. Gen. Thiti Sangsawang identified the victims as two Vietnamese-Americans and four Vietnamese nationals. They were three men and three women. Their ages ranged from 37 to 56, according to Noppasin Punsawat, deputy chief of Bangkok police. He said the case appeared to be personal and would not impact the safety of tourists.
One couple among the dead had invested about 10 million baht ($278,000) with two of the others, which could be a motive, Noppasin said, citing information obtained from relatives. The investment was intended to build a hospital in Japan and the group may have come together to settle the matter. Police say one of the six killed the others, but have not said which of the six is the suspect.
Bangkok police chief Lt. Gen. Thiti Sangsawang said Tuesday that four bodies were in the living room and two in the bedroom. He added that two of them appeared to have tried to reach the door but collapsed before they could.
Noppasin said Wednesday that a seventh person whose name appeared on the hotel reservation was the brother of one of the six and had left Thailand on July 10. Police believe the seventh person had no involvement in the deaths.
The Vietnamese and US embassies have been contacted about the deaths, and the US FBI is on its way, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said.
He said the case was unlikely to impact a conference with Russian Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev at the hotel later Wednesday. “This was not an act of terrorism or a security breach. Everything is fine,” he said.
Trairong said a mass suicide was unlikely because some of them had arranged for later parts of their trip, such as the guides and drivers. He added that the fact that the bodies were in different parts of the hotel room suggested they had not knowingly consumed poison and waited to die together.
U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller offered his condolences to the victims’ families in Washington. He said the United States was closely monitoring the situation and would communicate with local authorities.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with his Thai counterpart on Tuesday, but Miller said he believed the call took place before the deaths were reported and did not know whether it came up in their conversation.
In 2023, Thailand was rocked by reports of a serial killer who poisoned 15 people with cyanide over the course of several years. Sararat Rangsiwuthaporn, or “Am Cyanide” as she later became known, killed at least 14 people she owed money to and became the country’s first female serial killer. One person survived.
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News Source : apnews.com
