Two Canadians die mysteriously on Phi Phi :Autopsy results released.

[Khun Don]

Two Canadians die on Phi Phi
Published: 16/06/2012 at 06:14 PMOnline news: Local News


The bodies of two Canadian sisters have been found in a hotel room on the popular tourist resort island of Phi Phi, police said on Saturday.

The names of the women and the cause of their deaths were not immediately available.

The sisters, aged 26 and 20, were found dead on Friday afternoon by hotel staff on the Andaman sea island.

"Their bodies were found a little after midday [Friday]. They were sisters," Lieut Pongpan Waiyawat of the island's police force told AFP.

"We have to wait for the post-mortem to determine the cause of death but based on initial investigations there was no sign of violence in their room."

The local online news site Phuketwan.com reported that the bodies were found in a ground-floor room at the Phi Phi Palms Residence. It quoted a nurse as saying they had been taken to Krabi Hospital for examination by pathologists.

Police were also waiting for Canadian Embassy officials to arrive at the scene.

The sisters reportedly checked in on Tuesday and had planned initially to stay just one night. However, they later decided to stay over on Wednesday night.

A maid knocked on the women's door on Thursday to clean the room and got no response. However, the room was not opened until Friday when staff used a master key.

"They had been dead between 12 and 20 hours when they were found. They both have a mysterious rash," the nurse at Krabi Hospital told Phuketwan. (Full article-mentioning similar tourist deaths in same guest house in 2009)

BANGKOK POST

[Khun Don]

Phi Phi deaths could be food poisoning
Published: 17/06/2012 at 01:30 PMNewspaper section: News


Two Canadian sisters found dead in their hotel room on the popular Thai resort island of Phi Phi may have been the victims of "serious food poisoning", police said on Sunday.

The bodies of Audrey and Noemi Belanger, aged 20 and 26, were found on Friday by staff of Palm Residence Hotel on Ao Nang in Muang district. Early indications were that they suffered an extreme toxic reaction, news agencies reported.

"Forensic officials found vomit in the room, blood on their lips and gums and their fingernails and toenails were blue," Pol Lt Col Rat Somboon of Krabi Provincial Police said, adding there were "signs of serious food poisoning".

"They died more than 12 hours before being found. They had eaten meals outside the hotel," he said.

The bodies of the sisters, who were from Canada's French-speaking Quebec province, were taken from Phi Phi to the nearby town of Krabi on Thailand's Andaman seaboard, where a probe into the cause of the deaths was underway, he added.

Pol Lt Pongpan Waiyawat, of Phi Phi's police force, said more details would be released "once there is some progress", adding there was no indication of a violent struggle inside their room.

"Their bodies were found a little after midday,'' Pol Lt Pongpan said.

''We will have to wait for the post-mortem to determine the cause of death but based on initial investigations there's no sign of violence in their room.''

Pol Lt Wisawa Senghar, who is based on Phi Phi, said the sisters had only planned to stay Tuesday night at the hotel, but extended their stay.

''It really is difficult to speculate what may have killed them,'' he told the Phuketwan website.

Anangkana Choisrinal, a nurse at Krabi Hospital where the bodies are being kept, told Phuketwan both women had a mysterious rash.

''I have never seen a case like it. We have no idea as yet what killed the women.''

In May 2009, American Jill St Onge, 27, and Norwegian Julie Michelle Bergheim, 22, died in similar circumstances while staying in adjoining rooms at the Laleena guesthouse.

Despite pathology tests in Norway and the US, the women's cause of death has never been determined.

BANGKOK POST

[Khun Don]

Police baffled over death of sisters
Published: 18/06/2012 at 02:12 AMOnline news: Local News


Krabi police are struggling to find clues about the mysterious death of two Canadian sisters at their hotel room on Koh Phi Phi.

The tourists' corpses will be sent for further autopsies at a better-equipped hospital in Songkhla or Bangkok.

Muang Krabi police chief Thaksin Pochakorn said there were no signs of a struggle in their rooms or on their bodies, and investigators were looking for other possible causes of the deaths.

"We are waiting for the post-mortem examination of the victims' inner organs to see if there are any traces of toxic substances," Pol Col Thaksin said.

The bodies of Noemi Belanger, 26 and Audrey Belanger, 20, were found in their hotel room on Koh Phi Phi off Krabi province on Friday.

The holidaying sisters checked in at Phi Phi Palms Residence in tambon Ao Nang of Muang district last Tuesday.

Witnesses said the women went out and returned to the room late at night and did not come out in the morning.

Concerned hotel staff used a master key to enter the ground-floor room.

Police said large amounts of vomit were found in the room and the women had bleeding gums and bleeding under the skin. Their nails appeared to be blackened.

Krabi hospital director Komgrib Phukittayakamee said Sunday the women's bodies, which were being kept at his hospital, will be sent for a post-mortem examination at either the Police General Hospital in Bangkok or at Songklanagarind Hospital.

Dr Komgrib said he and Phi Phi hospital director Duangporn Paothong had jointly examined the dead bodies of the tourists and found they had suffered no physical injuries. It was too soon to pinpoint the cause of the deaths, he said, adding that bleeding gums and bleeding under the skin were not always linked to poisoning.

Such symptoms are usually found on diseased people, the doctor said.

Canadian embassy officials had arrived at the hospital to talk to the authorities about the pathology tests, he said.

Dr Komgrib said health authorities would not issue any health advisory to tourists and residents until they received more information from the autopsy and pathology testing results, expected in the next few days.

Phi Phi Palms Residence, where the women stayed, opened in 2009.

The two-storey lodging is about a two-minute walk from the famous Loh Dalum beach on the island.

BANGKOK POST

[Khun Don]

Food poisoning likely cause of sisters' death
Published: 18/06/2012 at 05:32 PMOnline news: Local News


BANGKOK - Police on Monday promised a swift investigation into the death of two Canadian sisters found in their hotel room on a popular Phi Phi resort island.

The bodies of Audrey and Noemi Belanger, aged 20 and 26, from Quebec province, were found Friday by hotel staff on Phi Phi island, in Phuket province, in the Andaman Sea, showing signs of having suffered an extreme toxic reaction.

According to The Phuket News online edition, a physician who performed a preliminary examination, Dr Komkrit Phukrityakame said he believed the two were victims of food poisoning.

"The source could have been a meal which included blowfish or poisonous mushrooms," Krabi Hospital director Kromkit said.

Police said on Sunday that "serious food poisoning" might have been to blame, but the authorities stressed then that it was too early to pinpoint the cause of the deaths.

"We will send all evidence to Bangkok's forensic department this afternoon and ask them to process it quickly to establish what killed them," said Krabi province police chief Jamroon Reunrom.

"As well as the police forensic team, a team from the health ministry's department of disease control also came to help, but we could not say right now what is the cause of the deaths," he added.

"I prefer to wait for formal results from the police forensic team in Bangkok."

Officials said they found vomit in the room and there was haemorrhaging of the sisters' lips and gums. Their fingernails and toenails had turned blue.

They said there was no indication of a violent struggle inside the room at the Palm Residence Hotel. The hotel manager declined to speak to AFP.

Phi Phi island is one of Thailand's top tourist destinations, made famous by the 2000 film The Beach starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

Thailand, which has cultivated an image as the "Land of Smiles", is a tourist magnet, but visitor deaths are not uncommon.

Two tourists, a Norwegian and an American, fell ill and died on Phi Phi in 2009 but the exact cause has not been established.

Uncertainly also remains over six deaths -- including four in a single hotel -- in northern Chiang Mai last year. Authorities said poisoning by pesticides or other chemicals was the likely cause of most of those fatalities.

BANGKOK POST

[Khun Don]

Kin want autopsies delayed
Published: 20/06/2012 at 01:48 AMNewspaper section: News


The Canadian embassy in Bangkok has asked authorities to delay autopsies on the bodies of two Canadian sisters who died under mysterious circumstances on Koh Phi Phi last week until their relatives fly into the country.

The bodies of Noemi Belanger, 26, and her younger sister Audrey, 20, arrived from Krabi at the Police General Hospital in Bangkok at 5am Tuesday. They were found dead in their room at Phi Phi Palms Residence Hotel on Koh Phi Phi Don last Friday.

The embassy and relatives have asked that the post-mortems be performed at Ramathibodi Hospital rather than the Police General Hospital.

Dr Surasak Leela-udomlipi, director of Ramathibodi Hospital, said yesterday his hospital had received the bodies from the Police General Hospital as requested by the relatives.

The autopsies will be concluded in 14 days and Ramathibodi will report its findings to Police General Hospital.

He said the tourists died in an unusual manner and the post-mortems would be comprehensive and cover all possible causes of death.

Officials found bleeding under the sisters' nails, in the whites of their eyes and in their cheeks.

Officials of the Institute of Forensic Medicine and the Bureau of Epidemiology have collected samples of suspicious substances on the island to help determine the cause of death.

Dr Jakarat Pitayawong-anont of the bureau said police reported that both women had suffered severe vomiting and diarrhoea before they died.

He said there were many possible causes of death including exposure to pesticide or arsenic mixed with a narcotic.

Dr Paijit Warachit, permanent secretary of the Public Health Ministry, said provincial health officials, especially those in popular tourist destinations, have been ordered to check food safety in their jurisdictions.

BANGKOK POST

[Marie]

There have been just too many similar mysterious deaths like this in Thailand. I hope the authorities come up with more truthful, convincing explanations as to the real causes.

[Curt]

Unfortunately, "the authorities" don't have the tools, budget or inclination to really investigate these matters. All they want/can to do is package it up and shelve it.

[Khun Don]

Also the words "carpet" and "sweep under" always come to mind with anything that might affect the profits from tourism or reflect badly on the government internationally in any way.

[kfchugo]

While I am reluctant to spread unsubstantiated rumours (exactly what I am doing in this post), I have heard several reports from Thai family members who tell me that it is common for hotels to fumigate rooms for bedbugs etc. Unfortunately, if they get busy, many will put guests into such a room before it has aired sufficiently. Naturally, most would close the room up and crank up the air conditioning, circulating residual poisons.
I can understand how hotel staff, police and Thais generally would be reluctant to own up to such practices. Whatever the cause however, it just cant go on - far too many tourists have died in Thailand in mysterious/unexplained circumstances.

[Curt]

The "over zealous fumigator" was exactly what was the accusation / presumption for the Chiangmai incident. But, I haven't been able to find a single documented case of fatal inhalation of such chemical. The top toxicologist from New Zealand says that it is almost impossible. But, since it was what everyone wanted to hear, it was the "probable conclusion that the "Thai authorities" reported.