6 Dead in Thai Hotel

[Mekong]

Still sketchy details in TV but 6 Vietnamese tourists found dead in their rooms in Grand Hyatt Erawan

Unconfirmed reports of shooting, others of suspicious substances 

[Coss]

My initial thoughts on the news report of the Prime Minister holding a press conference about this at the hotel, a top end 5 star one this is -

Maybe the 6 vietnamese (US citizenship on all or some), 3 women 3 men, possibly poisoned, recent room service order:

1, were very important? politically or criminally?

2, the hotel needed to be seen to have the backing of the Prime Minister and his posse, because its 5 star?

3, would the Prime Minister do same, for small hotel in the back streets of Sukhumvit with 6 dead mongers?

4, the Prime Minister and posse, just can't resist any opportunity, to go to and be seen at, top end Hi So venues? 

It's not the deaths that are startling, it's the stampede of the top end people, to get to the scene of the crime, that's noteworthy.

 

Thai prime minister Srettha Thavisin, who visited the hotel late on Tuesday with senior police officials, ordered a swift investigation on the matter, the government said in a statement.

 

[bust]

Interesting to know who they were considering the attention it's getting. 7 different names in rooms on different floors all ended up dead in 1.

Unless I read it wrong.

[Coss]

I think one is missing, but yes 6 dead in one room

[Mekong]

Cyanide has been found in the blood of all six Linkpeople who died in a luxury hotel suite in Bangkok, say doctors after examining their bodies.

Based on the initial post-mortem examination, they say there is "no other cause" that would explain their deaths "except for cyanide". 

But they are doing further tests to determine the "intensity" of the deadly chemical and to rule out any other toxins.

Forensic investigators had earlier found traces of cyanide on the teacups used by the victims, all of them of Vietnamese origin. Police suspect that one of the dead was behind the poisoning and was driven by crushing debt.

The victims' lips and nails had turned dark purple indicating a lack of oxygen, while their internal organs turned "blood red", which is another sign of cyanide poisoning, said Professor Kornkiat Vongpaisarnsin of the Department of Forensic Medicine at Chulalongkorn University.

Doctor Chanchai Sittipunt, the dean of the Faculty of Medicine, said they still needed to find out how much cyanide was in the blood of the deceased.

"But from what we have detected - from observation, from internal organ check, from finding cyanide in the blood during the screening test - there is no other cause that would be the factor that would cause their deaths, except for cyanide,” he told reporters.

The deceased were found by housekeepers at the Grand Hyatt Erawan hotel in the Thai capital late on Tuesday.

Investigators believe they had been dead for between 12 and 24 hours by then. 

The mystery around the shocking discovery made international headlines. 

Thailand's Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin ordered an urgent investigation into the case, stressing that the deaths were the result of a "private matter", and there was no suggestion of public danger. 

Police have since begun to piece together what might have happened. 

Two of the six victims had loaned "tens of millions of Thai baht" to another of the deceased for investment purposes, authorities said. Ten million baht is worth nearly $280,000 (£215,000).

Earlier on Wednesday, Deputy Bangkok police chief Gen Noppassin Poonsawat told a press conference the group checked into the hotel separately over the weekend and were assigned five rooms - four on the seventh floor, and one on the fifth. 

They had been scheduled to check out on Monday but failed to do so.

Four of the victims are Vietnamese nationals Thi Nguyen Phuong, 46, her husband Hong Pham Thanh, 49, Thi Nguyen Phuong Lan, 47, and Dinh Tran Phu, 37.

The other two are American citizens Sherine Chong, 56, and Dang Hung Van, 55.

The US state department has offered its condolences and said it is "closely monitoring" the situation. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation is assisting Thai authorities in the investigation, Mr Srettha said.

Link

 

[Coss]

It's staring to become explained and believably so.

I still wonder at the P.M. just chucking the business of the country, out of the window, to make a poste haste photo op, at the Hi So hotel...

[Mekong]

I was a little cynical to begin with, seems all so convenient the killer being dead so case closed, perfect for the BiB. But then I realised two of the victims were American citizens and as such FBI agents attached to the US Embassy were also involved in the investigation adding a certain degree of credibility to the findings