Cyanide found in blood of Bangkok hotel victims

Following autopsies, medical professionals report that cyanide was detected in the blood of all six of the victims who passed away in a Bangkok luxury hotel suite.
They claim that “no other cause” could account for their deaths, “apart from cyanide,” based on the preliminary post-mortem study.
To ascertain the “intensity” of the lethal chemical and rule out any other poisons, however, more testing is being done.
The victims, all of whom are Vietnamese, including two who hold dual US citizenship, had teacups that had previously contained cyanide residue, according to forensic experts. Authorities believe that one of the deceased—whom they have not named—was responsible for the poisoning and was motivated by overwhelming debt.

KEEP READING:

‘Cool it down,’ Biden tells nation after Trump assassination bid

Who is Thomas Matthew Crooks, the suspected Trump rally shooter

ICJ to issue verdict on Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories on July 19

According to Professor Kornkiat Vongpaisarnsin of Chulalongkorn University’s Department of Forensic Medicine, the victims’ internal organs turned “blood red,” which is another indicator of cyanide poisoning, and their lips and nails had become dark purple, suggesting a lack of oxygen.
The dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Dr. Chanchai Sittipunt, stated that more research was necessary to determine the exact amount of cyanide present in the deceased’s blood.
“However, cyanide is the only factor that could have contributed to their deaths, based on our observations, internal organ checks, and detection of cyanide in the blood during the screening test,” he said to reporters.

The deceased were found by housekeepers at the Grand Hyatt Erawan hotel in the Thai capital late on Tuesday.

Investigators believe they had been dead for between 12 and 24 hours by then.

The mystery around the shocking discovery made international headlines.

Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin ordered an urgent investigation into the case, stressing that the deaths were the result of a “private matter”, and there was no suggestion of public danger.

Police have since begun to piece together what might have happened.

Two of the six victims had loaned “tens of millions of Thai baht” to another of the deceased for investment purposes, authorities said. Ten million baht is worth nearly $280,000 (£215,000)

Gen. Noppassin Poonsawat, the deputy commander of police in Bangkok, stated earlier on Wednesday at a news briefing that the gang had individually checked into the hotel over the weekend and had been given five rooms—four on the seventh floor and one on the fifth.
They were supposed to check out on Monday, but they didn’t show up.
Vietnamese nationals Thi Nguyen Phuong, 46; her husband, Hong Pham Thanh, 49; Thi Nguyen Phuong Lan, 47; and Dinh Tran Phu, 37, are among the four victims.
Dang Hung Van, 55, and Sherine Chong, 56, are citizens of the United States.
In addition to expressing sympathy, the US State Department stated that it is “closely monitoring” the situation. Mr. Srettha stated that the US Federal Bureau of inquiry is supporting Thai authorities in their MR srettha inquirysaid.

What do police suspect happened?

Although the reason for the crimes is unclear, authorities claim that two of the six lent a significant sum of money to a group member who had not been reimbursed.
On Monday afternoon, according to the police, all six victims congregated in the fifth-floor apartment.

The lone occupant in the room at the time, Ms. Chong, accepted the food and tea that the party had ordered when it was brought to the room at around 14:00 local time (08:00 BST).
A server offered to make tea for the visitors, but Ms. Chong declined, according to the deputy police chief. Authorities added that the waitress remembered her as someone who “spoke very little and was visibly under stress.”

Then, between 14:03 and 14:17, the remainder of the group started to pour into the room. The six people inside the room are thought to be the only ones that entered, and according to the police, the door was shut from the inside.

According to the police, there were no indications of a struggle, robbery, or break-in. All six tea cups had residues of cyanide in them later on.
Plates of unfinished food, some still wrapped in cling wrap, are shown on a table in the room in photos that the police have published.
Police recognized the seventh name on the group’s hotel reservation as belonging to one of the victims’ younger sisters. Last Monday, she departed from Thailand for the

Police indicated that Da Nang, a beach city in Vietnam, is unrelated to the event.
Police spoke with relatives who indicated that Ms. Chong received funding from the pair Thi Nguyen Phuong and Hong Pham Thanh, who ran a road construction company, to invest in a hospital development project in Japan.
The Da Nang-based makeup artist Mr. Tran is suspected by the police of having also been “duped” into investing.

Tuý, the mother of Mr. Tran, told BBC Vietnamese that her son left for Thailand on Friday and called home on Sunday to let his mother know he needed to stay until Monday. That was the final communication he had with his family. When she called him again on Monday, he did not pick up.
One of Mr. Tran’s students informed BBC Vietnamese that Ms. Chong had engaged him as her personal makeup artist for the trip. Phu, the father of Mr. Tran, informed the Vietnamese media that his son was recruited by a Vietnamese woman to fly to Thailand last week.
In an effort to boost tourism, Thailand opened up its visa-free entrance program to visitors from 93 nations and territories the day before the six corpses were found.

What is cyanide and how dangerous is it?

Cyanide is a very poisonous, quickly acting chemical that has the potential to be fatal. Nature and the goods we use and consume include trace amounts of cyanide. However, in higher concentrations, it is a well-known poison that has been employed as a chemical warfare weapon due to its quick acting and extremely deadly characteristics.
It can exist as a colorless liquid or vapor or as a crystal. Cyanide can enter the body through the skin, be inhaled, or be consumed in the form of food or drink.
In a matter of seconds, ingestion of excessive quantities of cyanide can result in lung damage, unconsciousness, and even death, as per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Cyanide is extremely dangerous even at lower dosages, resulting in nausea, vomiting, shortness of breath, and chest discomfort.
Although not everyone can smell it, cyanide can have a “bitter almond” scent, however it doesn’t usually.