Debts from an investment gone wrong appear to be the cause of the cyanide poisoning of six people found dead in a luxury hotel in Bangkok, while the police are solving the mysteries of this incident that occurred in the already famous room 502 of the Grand Hyat Erawan.
Thai police believe one of the group of four Vietnamese and two Vietnamese-Americans found dead Tuesday poisoned the others with cyanide, a powerful toxic compound, and then killed himself with the same poison.
Authorities are now trying to determine the origin of the substance, the role of some of the deceased and how this mass poisoning that caused the death of the three men and three women was triggered.
Entrance to the Grand Hyatt Erawan, Bangkok.
Alarm on social networks
Alarm bells began ringing on social media on Tuesday evening with breaking news that several people had died in a shooting at a Bangkok hotel, but this was soon denied and details of an apparent poisoning began to emerge.
The next day, the authorities were able to confirm to the press the use of cyanide, according to preliminary medical examinations, and point to the initial hypotheses about what could have happened on Monday.
The victims were identified as Vietnamese nationals Thi Nguyen Phuong (46 years old), Thi Nguyen Phuong Lan (47), Dinh Tran Phu (37) and Hong Pham Thang (49), as well as Vietnamese-Americans Sherine Chong (56) and Dang Hung Van (55).
A photograph provided by the Royal Thai Police shows food on a table inside a hotel room where six people were found dead from poisoning.
The prime suspect is Sherine Chong, who allegedly had a huge financial debt after convincing others to invest in the construction of a hospital in Japan, but something went wrong.
According to the police report reported by the Bangkok Post and Khaosod media, Hong Pham Thanh and Thi Nugyen Phuong, a husband and wife, invested around 10 million bat (about 275,000 dollars or 252,000 euros) in the project and were now trying to recover their money.
Chong’s invitation
Some of the family members interviewed said that Thi Nguyen Phuong Lan acted as an intermediary between Chong and the couple Thanh and Phuong, while Dinh Tran Phu was a make-up artist, so their exact role in this matter is unknown.
They all arrived in Bangkok at different times and dates to discuss the investment and stayed in different rooms at the Grand Hyatt Erawan, and on Monday Chong invited everyone to room 502 for a chat.
The five-star Grand Hyatt Erawan hotel with over 300 rooms is located in a popular shopping district of Bangkok next to the famous Erawan Shrine and shopping malls such as Central World.
They ordered food and Chong made the tea herself, according to hotel staff, who said she appeared stressed. The group was last seen alive at around 2:17 p.m. (09:17 GMT) and no one entered or left the room afterwards.
The bodies were found the next day when cleaning staff went to the room and tests found cyanide in the toilets and on the bodies, which police investigators said had been dead for 24 hours.
Everyone was in the same room except for Thi Nguyen Phuong Lan and Hung Dang Van, who seemed to have tried to go to the door before they died.
A seventh person was traveling with the victims – the younger sister of one of them – but investigators say she left the country on July 10.
Fear for tourism
Despite the grotesque nature of the alleged crime, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, who visited the hotel on the night the bodies were found, stressed that it was a personal matter and ruled out the possibility of a case that posed a risk to public safety.
The authorities fear that such an issue will affect tourism at a time when the country is trying to boost the sector, which has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic (2020-2023).
Such incidents are not common in Thailand, although there have been serious shootings in recent years, including one last October by a 14-year-old boy who killed three people in a Bangkok shopping centre.
The country was also shocked in 2023 by the cyanide poisoning of fifteen people by Thai woman Sararat Rangsiwuthaporn, who was trying to get rid of her debts.
Source: www.lavanguardia.com
