Traces of cyanide have been found in the cups of six people found dead in a central Bangkok luxury hotel, Thai police said on Wednesday.
The shocking discovery was made in a room at the five-star Grand Hyatt Erawan.
Lt Gen Trairong Piwpan, chief of the Thai police force’s forensic division, said there were traces of cyanide in the cups and containers that police found in the room, but initial results of a post-mortem examination are expected on Thursday.
Bangkok police chief Lt Gen Thiti Sangsawang identified the dead as two Vietnamese Americans and four Vietnamese nationals, and said there were three men and three women.
Officers said that upon checking hotel records and security footage, there were no other visitors to the room.
The casualties are believed to have ingested cyanide with one officer claiming the bodies were “foaming at the mouth,” according to local reports. Initial results of a post-mortem examination are expected on Thursday.
Uneaten meals were left on a table in a room in the Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel
AP
Their ages ranged from 37 to 56, according to Noppasin Punsawat, Bangkok deputy police chief. He said the case appeared to be personal and would not impact upon the safety of tourists.
The Vietnamese and US embassies have been contacted over the deaths, and the American FBI is en route, said Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin.
A husband and wife among the dead had invested money with two of the other victims, suggesting that money could be a motive, said the police chief.
The investment was meant to build a hospital in Japan and the group might have been meeting to settle the matter.
The six had last been seen alive when food was delivered to the room on Monday afternoon. The staff saw one woman who received the food, and security footage showed the rest arriving one by one to the room shortly after.
Drinks left in the hotel rooms where six bodies were found dead at the hotel
Royal Thai Police/AFP via Getty
No-one was seen leaving and the door was locked from the inside. A hotel maid found the bodies on Tuesday afternoon when they failed to check out of the room.
Officers said a seventh person whose name was part of the hotel booking was identified by police as a sibling of one of the six victims, who left the country on July 10. Police believe the seventh person had no involvement in the deaths.
When asked if the news would affect a conference with Russian energy minister Sergei Tsivilev at the hotel later on Wednesday, Mr Srettha said it was unlikely. “This wasn’t an act of terrorism or a breach in security, everything is fine.”
Mr Trairong said a mass suicide was also unlikely because some of the victims had arranged future things for their trip, such as guides and drivers.
He added that the bodies were not grouped in the same place – some were in the bedroom, some in the living room – suggesting that they did not knowingly consume poison and wait for their death together.
The Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel in Bangkok
Getty Images
In 2023, the country was rocked by reports of a serial killer who poisoned 15 people with cyanide over a span of years.
Sararat Rangsiwuthaporn, or “Am Cyanide” as she would later be called, killed at least 14 people who she owed money to and became the country’s first female serial killer. One person survived.
Police said victims had booked several rooms at the Grand Hyatt Erawan under seven names, and some were staying on a different floor from the room where they were found dead.
Thailand’s Matichon newspaper and other Thai media initially reported a shooting in the country’s capital on Tuesday evening, citing local police.
However Matichon later said the cause of death had been established as poisoning.
Images of drinks left in the hotel room
AFP via Getty Images
Thailand’s prime minister Settha Thavisin has ordered a swift investigation into the incident to stem any damage to the tourism sector.
Thai media reported that the prime minister visited the scene and appeared “stressed” as he refused to give any interviews to journalists at the scene.
A police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, dismissed earlier reports in Thai media that the six people had been killed in a shooting.
“There is no sign of a shooting,” the official told Reuters, without elaborating further.
Police officers found the bodies of the six deceased foreign nationals after receiving a call from the hotel’s staff at around 5.30pm.
The Grand Hyatt Erawan is described on its website as a five star hotel in the capital’s key commercial and diplomatic district, next to Erawan Shrine. It has 380 rooms and 44 suites and its luxury facilities include a spa and restaurant.
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