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WORLD NEWS Thursday 18 July 2024
Traces of cyanide are found in the blood of Vietnamese and

Americans found dead in a Bangkok hotel

By JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI States embassies have been
and NAPAT KONGSAWAD contacted over the deaths,
Associated Press and the American FBI was en
BANGKOK (AP) — Initial au- route, Prime Minister Srettha
topsy results showed traces Thavisin said. “This wasn’t an
of cyanide in the blood of act of terrorism or a breach
six Vietnamese and Ameri- in security. Everything is fine,”
can guests at a luxury hotel he said. Trairong said a mass
in central Bangkok and one suicide was unlikely because
of them is believed to have some of them had arranged
poisoned the others over a future parts of their trip, such
bad investment, Thai authori- as guides and drivers.
ties said Wednesday. He said the bodies being in
The bodies were found different parts of the hotel
Tuesday in the Grand Hyatt room suggested they did not
Erawan Bangkok, a land- knowingly consume poison
mark at a central intersec- and wait for their deaths
tion in the capital busy with together. U.S. State Depart-
malls, government buildings ment spokesperson Matthew
and public transit. Miller in Washington offered
The six had last been seen condolences to the families
alive when food was deliv- Thai police display pictures of evidence during a press conference at Lumpini police station in of the dead. He said the U.S.
ered to the room Monday Bangkok, Thailand, Wednesday, July 17, 2024. is closely monitoring the situ-
afternoon. The staff saw one Associated Press ation and would communi-
woman receive the food, cate with local authorities. q
and security video showed Bangkok police chief Lt.
the rest arriving one by one Gen. Thiti Sangsawang
shortly after. There were no identified the dead as two
other visitors, no one was Vietnamese Americans and
seen leaving and the door four Vietnamese nationals,
was locked from the inside. and said they were three
A maid found them Tuesday men and three women. Their
afternoon when they failed ages ranged from 37 to 56,
to check out of the room. according to Noppasin Pun-
Upon entering the room, sawat, Bangkok deputy po-
hotel staff found that food lice chief. He said the case
ordered from the previous appeared to be personal
day was left untouched, with and would not impact the
some servings of fried rice still safety of tourists.
under plastic wrap. While the A husband and wife among
food was untouched, sev- the dead had invested about
eral used teacups were on 10 million baht ($278,000)
a nearby table, next to two with two of the others, and
thermos bottles. that could be a motive, said
Lt. Gen. Trairong Piwpan, Noppasin, citing information
chief of the Thai police obtained from relatives. The
force’s forensic division, said investment was meant to
there were traces of cyanide build a hospital in Japan and
in the cups and bottles. the group might have been
Initial results from autopsies meeting to settle the matter.
of the six bodies, performed Police say one killed the rest
at Bangkok’s Chulalong- but did not say which of the
korn Hospital, were shared six was the suspect.
later Wednesday. Kornkiat Bangkok police chief Lt.
Vongpaisarnsin, head of Gen. Thiti Sangsawang said
the forensic medicine de- Tuesday that four bodies
partment at Chulalongkorn were in the living room and
University’s medical school, two in the bedroom. He said
said at a news conference two of the people appeared
that there was cyanide in to have tried to reach the
the blood of all six, and a door but collapsed before
CAT scan showed no signs of they could.
blunt force trauma, reinforc- Noppasin said Wednesday
ing the hypothesis that they that a seventh person whose
had been poisoned. name was part of the hotel
Chulalongkorn’s dean of booking was a sibling of one
medicine, Chanchai Sitti- of the six and left Thailand
punt, said the team knew on July 10. Police believe
enough from the cyanide the seventh person had no
to determine it was likely the involvement in the deaths.
cause of death. The Vietnamese and United