Cause of death in Bangkok hotel: cyanide attack suspected | Tourism news

A full autopsy is expected the next day, but police say cyanide residue was found on drinking cups.

Thai police suspect that six foreigners whose bodies were found in a luxury hotel in Bangkok died from cyanide poisoning.

Police said on Wednesday that traces of the poison were found in the room of the Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel where the bodies were discovered the day before.

Authorities have been keen to stress that this was a “private” crime and that there was no security threat to Thailand’s key tourism sector. It is suspected that one of the six dead may have laced tea with the deadly chemical in connection with a dispute over money.

“We found cyanide in the teacups, in all six cups,” Trirong Phiwpan, head of the Thai police’s forensic department, told a news conference. “After staff brought teacups and two hot water bottles, milk and teapots… cyanide was found in one of the six cups.”

The dead are two US citizens of Vietnamese descent and four Vietnamese citizens. The bodies of the three men and three women were found late Tuesday.

A mass suicide is considered unlikely, Phiwpan added, as some of the dead had organized guides and drivers for the later part of their trip to Thailand.

It is also noted that the bodies were not grouped in the same place. Some were in the bedroom, others in the living room, suggesting that they did not knowingly ingest poison and were waiting for their death together.

“We are convinced that one of the six people found dead committed this crime,” said Noppasil Poonsawas, deputy commander of Bangkok police.

The results of the autopsy are expected within the next day, police said at the press conference.

The Vietnamese government said its embassy in Bangkok was working closely with Thai authorities. The U.S. State Department said it was monitoring the situation but noted that local authorities were responsible for the investigation.

Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin called for a speedy investigation into the deaths to limit the impact on his country’s travel sector.

Asked whether the news would impact a conference with the Russian energy minister at the hotel on Wednesday, Srettha said it was unlikely.

“This was not an act of terrorism or a security breach, everything is fine.”

Noppasin stressed that this was apparently a personal case and did not affect the safety of tourists.

A married couple among the dead had invested money with two other victims, which suggests that money could have been a motive, said the deputy police chief, citing information from relatives of the victims.

The investment was intended for the construction of a hospital in Japan and the group may have met to clarify the matter, he added.

However, the gruesome and mysterious deaths, which some Thai media initially reported as a shooting, could represent a setback for a country that relies heavily on its tourism sector to revive its economy, which has been struggling since the pandemic.

Thailand expects 35 million foreign arrivals this year, compared to 28 million last year, spending 1.2 trillion baht ($33.71 billion).