FIVE people were questioned all night last night over the fatal poisoning of six Vietnamese visitors, two of them American citizens, with one being a friend of a sister of one of the victims, Amarin TV and Naewna newspaper said this morning (July 17).
Meanwhile it was mentioned at “World Forum International News” Thai-language Facebook page that Vietnamese media had identified one of the six victims as being a well-known makeup artist in Danang.
At 1 a.m. this morning policemen took the suitcases of the six deceased Vietnamese, totalling eight of them, plus a backpack, shoes and other items from a Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel room to the second-floor meeting room at Lumpini police station where Pol. Col. Yingyot Suwanno, superintendent of this station, and his team then immediately started a meeting without the media allowed in to observe.
Metropolitan Police Division 5 and Lumpini station police officers together interrogated the five people all night.
After two hours of questioning had passed Pol. Maj. Gen. Witwat Shinkham, commander of Metropolitan Police Division 5, said the five people questioned included the secretary of the Vietnamese ambassador to Thailand and a friend of a sister of one of the deceased Vietnamese who lives in Thailand.
The two of them helped translate various documents found in the luggage.
In addition, a search of the deceased victims’ suitcases shows that they were ready to check out of the hotel. Some common medicines were packed within and they have been sent to the Police Forensic Division for inspection.
The six who died, who are all of Vietnamese descent but two hold American citizenship, had all travelled here from Vietnam on tourist visas but did not come at the same time.
Police are expanding investigation to determine the cause of death whether it was murder or not with Pol. Maj. Gen.Noppasil Poolsawat, deputy commander of Metropolitan Police Bureau, to give a press briefing this afternoon.
The bodies of all six victims are undergoing autopsy at the Department of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University.
Late last night Pol. Lt. Gen. Thiti Sangsawang, commander of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, said a hotel housekeeper had come to clean the room on the fifth floor where the six bodies were found because they were due to check out. Upon finding the room locked she entered through a rear entrance that only hotel staff use and upon finding the bodies quickly alerted the management.
The group – who had travelled to Thailand separately – had taken four rooms on the seventh floor and one on the fifth floor. In their reservation they had stated that seven people would be staying there but only five checked in yet six bodies were found.
Police know the identities and background of all six of them while finding out whether a seventh person was involved in their death.
Those staying in the four rooms on the seventh floor had to check out on Monday (July 15). However it seemed they knew each other and all their luggage was moved to the room on the fifth floor where their bodies were found yesterday.
Moreover the person who had an appointment to meet them did not show up while the hotel said their bills had not been paid.
It is believed that they died after 1.53 p.m. because food was ordered and delivered to the room which was not eaten.
Moreover six cups were found with some residue that looked like tea at the bottom. Also found in the bathroom were a jar of what looked like tea, mineral water and honey.
Pol. Lt. Gen. Thiti confirmed there was no trace of fighting in the hotel room.
CAPTIONS:
Top: Screen grab images of six Vietnamese visitors who died in fatal poisoning at Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel. Photos: Naewna
First insert and Front Page Police taking the deceased Vietnamese visitors’ suitcases to Lumpini police station. Photo: Amarin TV
Second insert: An image of a makeup artist identified by Vietnamese media as being one of the victims. Photo: Amarin TV
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