Buriram Expats
Buriram Province - General Category => Thailand News clippings => Topic started by: boloa on March 05, 2011, 04:55:13 PM
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Thai mystery hotel death toll jumps to four
A fourth person has ’secretly’ died at a Thai hotel where last week two British pensioners were found dead in separate beds.
After an earlier incident in which a 23-yr-old New Zealand woman was taken fatally ill with supposed ‘toxic poisoning’ Thai police today admitted today that in fact there was also a FURTHER earlier incident just days before in which a Thai guest also died.
The admission came after a complaint from a foreign guest who saw a body on a stretcher being dragged down the fire escape of the Downtown Inn in Chiang Mai, across the hotel’s pool area, which had been temporarily closed, and into an ambulance of a local foundation.
“The body was covered with a sheet, but seemed to be that of a woman.â€
The fourth death has not been previously mentioned to the media but today the manager of the city centre Downtown Inn also admitted that a Thai woman died on the premises, shortly before the New Zealander Sarah Carter was taken fatally ill.
A Chiang Mai police spokesman also confirmed the death and named the woman as Waraporn Pungmahisiranon but stressed: “It is dangerous to jump to conclusions.â€
Thanthep Bunkeow, the hotel manager, said: “I am referring all calls to the Thai Police and the Ministry of Public Health. I cannot say what the cause is. You will have to talk to them.â€
The Downtown Inn is part of a hotel group in Chiang Mai which also owns the Empress and Park Hotels in the city.
Waraporn Pungmahisiranon was in fact the first person to die in the hotel last month.
According to Police said she died on February 3rd, several days before Sarah Carter and two friends were taken sick.
The New Zealanders and Thai woman were in adjacent rooms, 518 and 516.
A guest at the hotel said on condition of anonymity: “None of us understand why the first death was kept a secret. I saw them take the body out down a fire escape before the girls were taken illâ€.
“Police had ‘Forensic Police’ signs on their jackets. There was a much easier way of getting the body out but I guess they did not want to alarm guests. They closed the pool area before walking the body through the pool area down to a foundation ambulance. We never saw this reported anywhere.
“We are confused. We were told that the British couple died of heart attacks after having sex. We were told the Thai woman had a heart attack. We do not know what to believe.â€
When Sarah Carter from Auckland died early on February 9th at Chiang Mai Ram Hospital at first police and the hotel’s management put the death down to ‘toxic seaweed’ which the young woman had allegedly eaten at the Chiang Mai Night Bazaar.
A friend, Amanda Eliason, 24, who, police said, also ate ‘toxic seaweed’ recovered after emergency heart surgery.
The third New Zealand woman in their group, Emma Langlands, 23, who ordered a different meal from a stall in a food market at Chiang Mai’s Night Bazaar, also allegedly suffered food poisoning but later recovered.
George and Eileen Everitt, aged 78 and 73, were found dead in separate beds at their room on the fourth floor of the hotel ten days ago.
A spokesman for the British Embassy said: “The cause of death has still not been established.†The bodies of the two senior citizens are still in Thailand.
A spokesman for Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health said that the investigation was not complete.
Meanwhile in New Zealand the body of Sarah Carter has already been buried at an emotional funeral ceremony and no local autopsy was carried out as the family left their trust in Thai authorities.
But the family say that the ‘toxic seaweed’ connection had already been ruled out.
Richard Carter, Sarah’s father, said he had still not been told by Thai authorities what had caused his daughter’s death.
“One death before and two in the following days indicates it’s not just pure coincidence,†he told the New Zealand Herald.
The New Zealand Consulate had been helpful but had received little information from the authorities in Thailand.
Mr Carter said he hoped the New Zealand Government could apply pressure.
“We need to get answers, not so much for ourselves, but for other travellers going to Thailand.â€
Mr Carter said the initial shock and trauma of Sarah’s death had subsided but had left behind a “constant anguishâ€.
“We will never have Sarah with us and that’s a difficult thing to live with each day.
Letters and phone calls of support had helped, he said, but each day started with the awful thought of never seeing Sarah again.
“That is a constant thing that will never leave us,†Mr Carter said.
Richard Langlands, Emma’s father, said his daughter had only just recovered and started showing signs of her old self.
“In the last few days…she has started revisiting what happened. She is very interested now in helping to determine what happened.â€
The girls had been told by the hotel manager about the death of the Thai womanâ€, he said.
Peter Eliason, Amanda’s father, said the only communication from Thai health authorities had been an email asking for a new blood sample from his daughter.
“At the time (of the illnesses) we were concerned only with getting our daughter safe and getting her out. Now it is becoming very suspicious. It’s all a bit too coincidental.â€
Mr Eliason, a farmer in New Plymouth, said tests results were promised within two weeks.
“It’s way more than two weeks now and we need to have some answers.â€
http://www.andrew-drummond.com/2011/03/03/thai-mystery-hotel-death-toll-jumps-to-four/ (http://www.andrew-drummond.com/2011/03/03/thai-mystery-hotel-death-toll-jumps-to-four/)
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Seems to be more to this than meets the eye
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:o
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It could be just a coincidence ???
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Thai magic
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Bates Motel?
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Legionaires Disease!!!!!!!!!!
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Legionaires Disease!!!!!!!!!!
Death's seem too sudden for Legionnaires' Disease,that cause's pneumonia type symptoms. smilenod
BTW Nookie ,these people hadn't stopped off at your Restaurant on the way to Chiang Mai..... had they ???..... redman redman redman
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Legionaires Disease!!!!!!!!!!
Death's seem too sudden for Legionnaires' Disease,that cause's pneumonia type symptoms. smilenod
BTW Nookie ,these people hadn't stopped off at your Restaurant on the way to Chiang Mai..... had they ???..... redman redman redman
I feel you are getting a little out of your depth.....I'd wind your neck in whilst you are able
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Legionaires Disease!!!!!!!!!!
Death's seem too sudden for Legionnaires' Disease,that cause's pneumonia type symptoms. smilenod
BTW Nookie ,these people hadn't stopped off at your Restaurant on the way to Chiang Mai..... had they ???..... redman redman redman
I feel you are getting a little out of your depth.....I'd wind your neck in whilst you are able
Nookie I thought you was the banter king.....Everything you have said about me I have come back with a smile thumbup
Seems you are are a " Like to give it but can't take it " kind of a guy.....As I have told other people in the past I only retaliate redman redman
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You're not so bad Boloa.
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You're not so bad Boloa.
I don't thinks so either Pee Nuu but there are a few people that try to blame me for everything that bad happens on the internet on me .I think they will be left with egg on their faces. :)
Anyway sounds like it could be methane gas poisoning to me :blink:
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/methane-gas-exposure-symptoms.html (http://www.buzzle.com/articles/methane-gas-exposure-symptoms.html)
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A letter in Bangkok Post suggests it might have been MSG poisoning. Certainly a dangerous additive... and worse than palm oil!
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Legionaires Disease!!!!!!!!!!
Death's seem too sudden for Legionnaires' Disease,that cause's pneumonia type symptoms. smilenod
BTW Nookie ,these people hadn't stopped off at your Restaurant on the way to Chiang Mai..... had they ???..... redman redman redman
I feel you are getting a little out of your depth.....I'd wind your neck in whilst you are able
Nookie I thought you was the banter king.....Everything you have said about me I have come back with a smile thumbup
Seems you are are a " Like to give it but can't take it " kind of a guy.....As I have told other people in the past I only retaliate redman redman
You seem to think many things but in reality know very ,very little......There are certain lines one doesn't cross....You have crossed it...I don't repeat myself so take a good long read of my previous post on this topic......ENOUGH SAID
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A letter in Bangkok Post suggests it might have been MSG poisoning. Certainly a dangerous additive... and worse than palm oil!
It could well have been,but with no info forthcoming from Thai Authorities its bloody hard to guess the causes of the deaths....
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A letter in Bangkok Post suggests it might have been MSG poisoning. Certainly a dangerous additive... and worse than palm oil!
My wife puts that in my thai food :o
Is she trying to kill me ???
http://www.naturodoc.com/library/nutrition/MSG_poisoning.htm (http://www.naturodoc.com/library/nutrition/MSG_poisoning.htm)
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I bet it will be down to human error or lack of maintenance of some type of equipment here in LOS.
Would not an Autopsy have shown links between this varied group of people?
Bet they all had gambling debts and the Russian Mafiosa got them (JOKE)
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A letter in Bangkok Post suggests it might have been MSG poisoning. Certainly a dangerous additive... and worse than palm oil!
My wife puts that in my thai food :o
Is she trying to kill me ???
http://www.naturodoc.com/library/nutrition/MSG_poisoning.htm (http://www.naturodoc.com/library/nutrition/MSG_poisoning.htm)
I've had MSG poisoning from a meal bought in a fairly respectable restaurant in Hod, Chiangmai. While it didn't kill me (as far as I can tell), it wasn't very funny.
Palm oil is full of cholesterol (the bad kind), and is potentially dangerous for anyone who already has a cholesterol problem.
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Another mystery death in Thailand :ohmy:
A fifth tourist has died in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in circumstances eerily similar to New Zealander Sarah Carter's mysterious death - which health officials initially blamed on food poisoning.
American Mariam Soraya Vorster, a 33-year-old from Seattle working as a guide in Chiang Mai, died on January 11 - just over three weeks before 23-year-old Sarah died.
Ms Vorster's husband Tony Pandolo told the Herald his wife was perfectly fit and healthy and became sick with symptoms of food poisoning before she died.
"I kept asking about the health department, or what the next steps would be with the restaurant," Mr Pandolo said. "No one really seemed to know, and it turns out no one really did anything.
"Soraya had an autopsy at University Hospital in Chiang Mai on January 12 or 13 and we still have no results."
Ms Vorster's death is one of five in a six-week spell in Chiang Mai.
Local woman Waraporn Pungmahisiranon died two days before Sarah and British pensioners George and Eileen Everitt died less than two weeks later.
Those deaths were all in the same hotel - the Downtown Inn.
Mr Pandolo said his wife was staying in a different hotel, but the symptoms were the same.
At a press conference in Bangkok yesterday, Chiang Mai Governor Pannada Disakul said: "We have to admit that these deaths coming one after another are nothing more than coincidence.
"We have done and will continue to do our utmost to make tourists confident in our city."
The press conference was told Mr and Mrs Everitt, 78 and 74, died within minutes of each other of heart attacks.
The couple's son Stephen Everitt yesterday told the Herald that was not a believable explanation.
"They had no history of heart problems or any other problems," said Mr Everitt from his home in Lincolnshire.
"They were active and healthy for their age and it has come as a total shock.
"And now they want me to believe they both had heart attacks at the same time. It doesn't make sense. How can it be coincidence?"
Yesterday's press conference, which did not include details of Ms Vorster's death, was told tests were still being conducted into Sarah's death.
Tests on tissue taken from Sarah Carter had been inconclusive and samples had been sent for analysis to the United States and Japan, said Dr. Pasakorn Akaraseri, of the Communicable Disease Department of Thailand's Ministry of Health.
He said there was no evidence to suggest that any of the deaths were as a result of the guests eating food bought at the local market or on the street.
Sarah and two friends - Amanda Eliason and Emma Langlands - became sick in the Downtown Inn in Chiang Mai on February 4. Sarah died in hospital two days later.
Amanda and Emma recovered and are now back in New Zealand.
Richard Carter, Sarah's father, said the press conference was a "fob off".
"It doesn't sound like there's any real investigation going on here.
"You start to wonder how many other deaths there have been that are being swept under the carpet."
Mr Carter said the New Zealand Government needed to put on more pressure to find out how many similar deaths there had been in the last few years so travellers could make informed decisions.
"At the moment it's pot luck. People head off on holiday and then 'bang' they're dead."
Foreign Minister Murray McCully said the comments from the press conference were "not wholly convincing and we intend to give them closer scrutiny".
"We will look into the matter further. I gather there is still some work being done of a forensic nature of some samples and we are looking forward to seeing that material too.
"It's clear that we need to ask some more questions."
Asked if the Government would launch its own inquiry Mr McCully said that was too early to consider.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, let's just ask the questions methodically as we go forward... Clearly the obvious questions need to be asked and answered fully."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/health/news/article.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10711193&ref=rss (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/health/news/article.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10711193&ref=rss)
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The great Thai cover-up continues!!
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The Downtown Inn. :o
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g293917-d478772-Reviews-Downtown_Inn_Chiang_Mai-Chiang_Mai.html (http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g293917-d478772-Reviews-Downtown_Inn_Chiang_Mai-Chiang_Mai.html)
Quote....“Nice friendly placeâ€
.............“Little Gemâ€
...........“Always a good place to stayâ€
I wonder if The Downtown Inn has a western owner and they have a Farang forum up in Chiange Mai :D
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The Downtown Inn. :o
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g293917-d478772-Reviews-Downtown_Inn_Chiang_Mai-Chiang_Mai.html (http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g293917-d478772-Reviews-Downtown_Inn_Chiang_Mai-Chiang_Mai.html)
Quote....“Nice friendly placeâ€
.............“Little Gemâ€
...........“Always a good place to stayâ€
I wonder if The Downtown Inn has a western owner and they have a Farang forum up in Chiange Mai :D
Suspiciously sounding like someone we all know and love.... bike037 thumbup
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This saga goes on with the revelation that on Jan 11th a perfectly fit 33yo American lady died in very similar circumstances to The NZlady,,,,BUT she didnt stay in that Hotel!!!!
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This saga goes on with the revelation that on Jan 11th a perfectly fit 33yo American lady died in very similar circumstances to The NZlady,,,,BUT she didnt stay in that Hotel!!!!
Yes Nookie, lots of people think 1+1 = 3 nono
No doubt Thailand's CSI will get it sorted ::)
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This saga goes on with the revelation that on Jan 11th a perfectly fit 33yo American lady died in very similar circumstances to The NZlady,,,,BUT she didnt stay in that Hotel!!!!
Yes Nookie, lots of people think 1+1 = 3 nono
No doubt Thailand's CSI will get it sorted ::)
When will no6 hit the news??
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Bloody Hell now a 7th victim,,,this time A Canadian Guy!!!
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Bloody Hell now a 7th victim,,,this time A Canadian Guy!!!
Must be just a Coincidence ,surely :blink:
http://www.andrew-drummond.com/2011/03/20/now-a-canadian-death-adds-to-chiang-mai-riddle/ (http://www.andrew-drummond.com/2011/03/20/now-a-canadian-death-adds-to-chiang-mai-riddle/)