By Sui-Lee Wee and Muktita Suhartono
Bangkok: The luxury hotel room, a suite, had been locked for nearly a day. The bowls of tom yum soup and plates of stir-fried vegetables and fried rice had been left untouched. But there was something far more ominous in the room: six bodies.
The episode, at a hotel in downtown Bangkok, prompted speculation of a mass poisoning. The prime minister, Srettha Thavisin, rushed to the scene and offered assurances that Thailand, one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations, remained safe for overseas visitors.
Uneaten meals left on a table in the Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel room where six people were found dead.Credit: AP
A day later, on Wednesday, the police said they had found traces of cyanide in the room and indicated the poison had been administered by one of the people found dead.
The dead — three women and three men, ranging in age from 37 to 56 — were all of Vietnamese descent. Two of them were citizens of the United States, and the rest of Vietnam. They had arrived in Thailand earlier in the month, some for their first visit to the country. The group stayed at a five-star hotel, the Grand Hyatt Erawan, which sits across from a famous Hindu shrine in the heart of downtown Bangkok.
Late Sunday night, they gathered in a room on the fifth floor before returning to their rooms, police officials said. The next morning, five of them checked out and headed to room 502. At about 11.45am, they ordered food. A little later, they added another serving of fried rice. At 1.51pm, a server brought in that order, along with two thermos flasks of tea and six teacups. He was in the room for roughly six minutes and saw only one person, a woman. He offered to make the tea, but the woman declined, saying she would make it herself.
It’s unclear what happened after the server left, but it appears nobody left or entered the room, which was locked from inside. The staff of the hotel went to check the room Tuesday because the occupant had not checked out as scheduled. The police were soon at the scene.
Police gather outside the Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand.Credit: AP
Entering the suite, they found one body by the door. Three more bodies, including one of a woman lying by the dining table with the untouched food, were in the living room. The remaining two victims were found in the bedroom.
A preliminary investigation found traces of cyanide on each of the flasks and teacups and also in the blood of one of the victims. The dead, the police added, had been poisoned by one of the people in the room, who also died.
The suspect “did this by using cyanide”, Bangkok deputy police chief Noppasin Poonsawat told reporters. He did not identify the person but officials said they did not suspect any gang activity and emphasised that Thailand was safe for foreign visitors.
The dead were identified as Sherine Chong and Dang Hung Van, both Vietnamese Americans, and Nguyen Thi Phuong Lan, Hong Pham Thanh, Tran Dinh Phu, and Nguyen Thi Phuong, all Vietnamese citizens.
Outside the Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel in Bangkok.Credit: AP
The police said they had spoken with the relatives of the dead and gleaned some details about the group.
It appeared, Noppasin said, that Lan was a broker in an investment plan and Chong had received 10 million baht, or about $410,000, from Phuong and her husband, Thanh. The couple wanted an update on their investment from Chong and Lan and had agreed to discuss the issue in Japan, but they met in Bangkok instead because of visa problems.
Phu was a well-known make-up artist who had worked with many Vietnamese celebrities. He had travelled to Thailand to help a bride get ready for her wedding about 10 days ago, according to a report in Nguoi Lao Dong, a Vietnamese newspaper, which cited Phu’s relatives. His family said they did not know whom he travelled with and that he was often on the road, according to the newspaper.
By Wednesday evening, the frenzy at the hotel had started to subside. The episode recalled why the Erawan Shrine was built nearby in the 1950s: it was meant to ward off the bad luck that had plagued the original hotel on the Grand Hyatt site.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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