Shock, mystery as six guests found dead in luxury hotel
Story from Uji A. ILIYASU
Confusion, disbelief and mystery has surrounded the grim discovery of six corpses of tourists in a five-star hotel in Bangkok, Thailand’s capital.
Local media initially suggested that there had been a shooting at the five-star Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok, but police dismissed these claims saying there was no evidence of gunfire.
Instead, authorities are investigating whether the victims died of poisoning.
The decease – three men and three women – were all Vietnamese nationals, and some had dual American citizenship, Thailand’s Prime Minister, Srettha Thavisin, said.
Thavisin who visited the scene, added that investigators suspect the victims had been dead for 24 hours by the time they were found and that post mortem examinations would be carried out.
Seven people were booked to stay in the hotel, but only five checked in and one person is currently unaccounted for, Metropolitan police chief Lt. Gen. Thiti Saengswang said.
One of the victims found in the room did not match the hotel’s records.
He added that suspicious substances and the DNA of the victims were detected in drinks ordered to the suite just before 14:00 local time on Monday.
The food the victims ordered was not touched.The guests had been scheduled to check out on Monday.
They went from the hotel’s seventh floor to the fifth, where their bodies were found by housekeepers in the suite’s living room and bedroom.
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Investigators say there is no evidence of a fight or a robbery, and the only wound found on one of the bodies was likely caused by a collapse.
In the bathroom, tea, energy drinks and honey were found, all in open containers, the police chief said.
It also appears that two of the victims tried to get to the hotel suite’s door, which was locked from the inside, but did not manage to reach it in time.
The victims’ luggage will now be searched as part of the investigation.
The prime minister said that he didn’t want this incident to affect Thailand’s image or have an impact on tourism, which is a key pillar of the Thai economy, that has not fully recovered from the coronavirus pandemic.
The country has just expanded its visa-free entry scheme to 93 countries and territories in an effort to entice tourists back.
Proofreading, editing by Uji A. Iliyasu, Editor at Neptune Prime
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