Bangkok hotel dead presumed to have swallowed cyanide from teacups

AFP | Bangkok, Thailand

The Daily Tribune - www.newsofbahrain.com

All six foreign nationals found dead in a luxury Bangkok hotel are presumed to have died after ingesting cyanide from teacups, a forensic doctor who performed autopsies on the deceased said yesterday.

The bodies of six people of Vietnamese origin -- two who held American citizenship -- were discovered in a suite at the Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel in the tourist centre of Bangkok on Tuesday afternoon.

Photos released by police of the bloodless crime scene showed bodies scattered around the room among plates of untouched Thai food, and two thermos flasks and cups.

Initial examinations revealed the presence of cyanide in six cups, according to police. “The mouths and nails on all the bodies turned purple, showing a lack of air could be a joint reason of the cause of the death,” forensic doctor Kornkiat Vongpaisarnsin, told a press conference at the Chulalongkorn University.

“We presume they all died from cyanide which causes a lack of air in some organs,” he added.

Earlier Thai police said one of the six foreigners found dead likely also carried out the poisonings, thought to be related to debts worth millions of baht.

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

The Vietnamese foreign ministry said four of the dead were Vietnamese, while the other two were U.S. citizens.