Thailand Travel Blog – Chiang Mai: Police have ruled out foul play after four people staying at a Chiang Mai hotel died over a 16-day period.
Two foreign tourists and a Thai tour guide were all found dead in the Downtown Inn hotel in Chiang Mai’s Muang district last month. A third foreigner staying at the hotel later died in hospital.
Despite some coincidences and similarities in the deaths, police do not believe any of the victims were murdered.
The first death was that of Thai tour guide Waraporn Yingmahasaranont, 47, whose body was found in front of the bathroom inside her fifth-floor room on Feb 3. Police said she had suffered from diarrhoea before her death.
On Feb 18, New Zealand tourist Sarah Carter, 23, was killed by an apparent bout of food poisoning.
Hotel staff interviewed by police said Carter and two foreign friends, who had also checked in to a room on the fifth floor, had brought barbecued pork and chicken back to the hotel that night and later became violently ill.
The staff took them to a local hospital, where Carter died. The two friends recovered and have since left Thailand.
Pol Lt Col Sawat Lakas, deputy chief of Muang district police in Chiang Mai, said investigators were still waiting for results of the post-mortem examination on Carter and Waraporn.
The next night, an elderly British couple died in their fourth-floor room.
A post-mortem examination confirmed both George Everly, 78, and Elean Everly, 74, died as a result of an unusual enlargement of their heart muscles with blocked arteries, Pol Lt Col Sawat said.
However despite the coincidence, doctors found no trace of poison in their stomachs, nor did police find any evidence of a struggle in the room.
The deputy chief said all three of the guests who died at the hotel had locked their rooms from the inside.
Hotel manager Thanthep Boonkaew has been called for questioning by police.
Mr Thanthep said many bookings at the hotel have been cancelled since news of the deaths had spread.
Monks will perform religious rites at the hotel on Tuesday.
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5 Comments
a friend passed away in early Jan in Chiang Mai from food poisoning, as did the young woman from NZ mentioned in the article – same symptoms. This focus needs to be on the FOOD nearby, not the hotel. Healthy people are dying from an unusual food poisoning and we need to find out the cause. I have seen no information on this in the media!!!
this resembles Digitalis poisoning from the medical point of view
What can we do to look into this further? This food poisoning also happened to 2 friends in January – both women went to the hospital, one survived and the other passed away.
This story is very similar to the death of my friend, Soraya Vorster, who died recently in Chang Mai with similar signs and symptoms. This cannot be a coincidence. Her death should be investigated, yet somehow the media and the Thai government has left her out of this story!
There is no way that this is just a coincidence. My good friend, Soraya Vorster, aged 33, died in Chang Mai in January as well. The cause of her death was food poisoning, leading to Myocarditis. Just like the people described in this article. This desrves a more thorough and honest investigation. The biggest tragedy of all would be if this were to happen to another person. Please look into this matter immediately.