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

[paul_au]

Some one is responsible for these two deaths, authorities need to get to the truth.

[Khun Don]

PHI PHI DEATHS

Two men 'partied with sisters'
Published: 22/06/2012 at 03:13 AMNewspaper section: News


Police are looking for two Portuguese men last seen with the two holidaying Canadian sisters who died under mysterious circumstances at a hotel on Koh Phi Phi off Krabi province last week.

The men are believed to hold clues about the women's deaths.

Investigators on Thursday checked CCTV footage from cameras at Phi Phi Palms Residence Hotel.

The footage, recorded between 1.10am and 1.14am on June 13, captured a male foreigner escorting the sisters back to their hotel room. A source close to the police investigation said the man was identified as Luciano Tinto, a 30-year-old Portuguese.

The man and his friend of the same nationality stayed at the same hotel as the sisters, the source said. The friend was not identified.

The source said before they were found dead, the two sisters were spotted with the two men at night entertainment venues on Phi Phi island.

Noemi Belanger, 26, and Audrey Belanger, 20, checked into the hotel in tambon Ao Nang of Muang district on June 13 and were found dead in their room on June 15. The source said the two Portuguese men checked out of the hotel and headed to Phuket on the same day the two Canadians died.

Meanwhile, relatives of the sisters arrived Thursday at Ramathibodi Hospital to collect their bodies for burial.

Wicharn Priewnim, head of the forensic medicine unit of the hospital, said toxicology results are expected to be known in one to two weeks.

Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul said yesterday the Canadian embassy has asked the ministry to coordinate efforts between the two countries to investigate the deaths.

Mr Surapong said the embassy also asked for tissue samples from the bodies to conduct lab tests. The ministry has referred the request to relevant officials.

BANGKOK POST

[Khun Don]

Phi Phi sisters' dad alleges police cover-up
Published: 29/06/2012 at 01:27 AMNewspaper section: News


The father of the Canadian sisters who were found dead in a hotel room on Koh Phi Phi has accused Thai authorities of covering up the true circumstances of their deaths, Canadian media reported.Carl Belanger, who will bury Noemi, 26, and Audrey, 20, tomorrow, said it took too long for authorities to discover their bodies and to examine them, and he claimed police did not keep him informed about their progress.

"The authorities say they found the bodies 12 hours after their death. According to our calculations, it was 48 hours," Mr Belanger said in an interview in French with the QMI Agency on Tuesday.

His comments were later translated into English and reported on the Alberta-based Calgary Sun newspaper's website.

Thai officials speculated the women probably died of food poisoning, but Mr Belanger claimed that the Thai autopsy and the actions of hotel staff were suspicious.

Hotel surveillance video showed a man leading the women to a room. Police were looking for two Portuguese men who were guests at the hotel, but both have left Thailand.

A maid found the sisters' bodies in their hotel room on June 15.

The sisters were students at Laval University in Quebec City. They worked at their father's grocery store in their home town of Pohenegamook, about 200km northeast of Quebec City.

The bodies were examined at a laboratory in Montreal and have since been given back to the family. Autopsy results are yet to be released.

Mr Belanger admitted he had concerns about his daughters' trip to Thailand and Vietnam despite the fact that Noemi was an experienced traveller.

He said he expressed his worries to his daughters the last time that they spoke.

"I was dreading Thailand," he said. "[I told them] they should end that trip."

The young women spoke with their parents every second day during their trip to Thailand, he said.

He said his last contact with them was on June 11.

"After that, no more news. My wife kept saying, 'Carl, this is bothering me'. Then we received word of their deaths on the morning of June 16."

Despite his grief and frustration, Mr Belanger praised the work of Canadian embassy officials whom he said repatriated his daughters' bodies quickly.

Pol Col Boontawee Toraksa, deputy commander of Krabi provincial police, yesterday said Ramathibodi Hospital had sent an initial result of its autopsy to him. The autopsy found no traces of narcotic drugs in the sisters' bodies.

However, doctors have not been able to determine the cause of their death.

Pol Col Boontawee said police had tried their best to solve the case. The crime scene investigation, evidence collection and witness interrogation had been conducted professionally, he said.

Krabi police had tried to find two Portuguese men who were guests at the same hotel as the sisters but both had left the country the day after police managed to identify them, he said.

BANGKOK POST

[Khun Don]

DEET in drinks killed sisters
Published: 1/09/2012 at 09:01 PMOnline news: Local News

The deaths of two Canadian sisters on Koh Phi Phi in June were caused by the insect repellent DEET in their drinks, according to Canadian media reports.

Results of the autopsy at a Bangkok hospital have not been publicly released, but they were shown to reporters for Radio-Canada, the French-language news network of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

According to the report, 20-year-old Audrey Belanger and her sister Noemi, 25, had DEET (diethyl-meta-toluamide) in their bodies.

Though the chemical is a potentially neurotoxic mosquito repellent, it is sometimes used as an ingredient to add an extra kick to a euphoria-inducing cocktail that is popular among young people in Thailand.

The cocktail known locally as 4x100 contains cough syrup, cola, ground-up kratom leaves, which are a mild narcotic, and ice.

It is thought that an overdose of DEET was accidentally mixed into the young women's drinks.

Large plastic buckets filled with different drink ingredients that are sipped through a straw are popular with Phi Phi partiers, who carry the buckets from place to place.

The sisters from Pohenegamook, Quebec had just arrived on Phi Phi and were last seen partying with two Brazilian friends in the early morning of June 13.

Forty-eight hours later, when staff at their hotel hadn't seen them emerge from their room, a receptionist called police.

The sisters were found dead in their room, and it was speculated that poisoning, probably accidental, played a role. Police said they found no signs of foul play.

However, officers did find a lot of vomit in the room and there was blood on the young women's faces, leading investigators to say early on that the women may have suffered some kind of toxic reaction.

Another autopsy is supposed to take place in Montreal, but final results from that are expected to take months.

In 2009, two young tourists, one from the United States and the other from Norway, who were staying at a nearby guest house on Phi Phi also died under mysterious circumstances.

Their deaths remain unsolved, but there was speculation the women had been poisoned.

BANGKOK POST

[kfchugo]

With todays forensic medical technology, it is highly unusual for any death to pass with no direct cause identified. If Thai authorities were serious about this, they would be sending tissue samples, cultures, specimens of stomach contents etc to the FBI, Scotland Yard or some such credible authority. It is simply unacceptable (especially to families involved) to speculate on a cause (i.e. using phrases like "it may have been...." or "it was probably.....").
While these deaths were, in all probability accidental, there remains the possibility that murders are going unpunished.

[Curt]

An investigation would be forthcoming if someone would finance it.

[Richard Barrow]

I think the parents in this case and other cases asked for the body to be flown home quickly. So only a standard autopsy could be done. In this case, they did a Canadian autopsy which in theory is better.

[Curt]

In the case of Sarah Carter, the father refuse an autopsy!