Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin speaks to the media during a press conference at Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand, Tuesday, July 16, 2024. Police said a number of people were found dead Tuesday in the luxury hotel in downtown Bangkok and poisoning is suspected. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
BANGKOK (AP) – The chief of the Thai police forensic division said Wednesday that police have found traces of cyanide in the cups of six people found dead in a central Bangkok luxury hotel.
The bodies were found Tuesday in Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel in downtown Bangkok. Upon checking hotel records, there were no other visitors to the room apart from the six that were found, police said. They had last been seen alive when food was delivered to the room on Monday afternoon.
Lt. Gen. Trairong Piwpan, chief of the Thai police force’s forensic division, said there were traces of cyanide in the cups and thermoses that police found in the room, but initial results of an autopsy are expected Thursday.
Bangkok police chief Lt. Gen. Thiti Sangsawang identified the dead as two Vietnamese Americans and four Vietnamese nationals, and said there were three males and three females.
The suspected motive for the deadly act may have been about money invested with one by a husband and wife, who felt it was not being properly used, said Noppasin Punsawat, Bangkok deputy police chief, citing information obtained from relatives of the victims.
The Vietnamese and United States Embassies have been contacted over the deaths, and the American FBI is involved in the investigation, said Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin.
When asked if the news would affect a conference with the Russian Energy Minister at the hotel later today, Srettha said it was unlikely. “This wasn’t an act of terrorism or a breach in security, everything is fine.”
in 2023, the country was rocked by reports of a serial killer who had poisoned 15 people with cyanide. Sararat Rangsiwuthaporn, or “Am Cyanide” as she would later be called, poisoned 15 people who she owed money to and became the country’s first female serial killer.
He said the case appears to be personal and would not impact the safety of tourists.
Trairong said a mass suicide was 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.
