Initial autopsy results showed traces of cyanide in the blood of six Vietnamese and American guests found dead Tuesday at the Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok luxury hotel—and one of them is believed to have poisoned the others over a bad investment, Thai authorities said Wednesday. The six had last been seen alive when food was delivered to the room Monday afternoon. The staff saw one woman receive the food, and security footage showed the rest arriving one by one shortly after, reports the AP. There were no other visitors, no one was seen leaving, and the door was locked. Lt. Gen. Trairong Piwpan, chief of the Thai police force's forensic division, said there were traces of cyanide in the cups and thermoses that police found in the room.
This was later confirmed by the initial autopsy results of the six bodies that was performed at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn Hospital. Kornkiat Vongpaisarnsin, head of forensic medicine at Chulalongkorn University's medical school, said that there was cyanide found in the blood of all six bodies, and a CAT scan showed no signs of blunt force trauma, reinforcing the hypothesis that they had been poisoned. Chulalongkorn's dean of medicine, Chanchai Sittipunt, said the team knows enough from the cyanide to determine it's likely the cause of death. Bangkok police chief Lt. Gen. Thiti Sangsawang said the case appeared to be personal and would not impact the safety of tourists.
A husband and wife among the dead had invested about $278,000 with two of the others, and that could be a motive, said Noppasin. The investment was meant to build a hospital in Japan, and the group might have been meeting to settle the matter. The police say one killed the rest, but did not say which of the six is the suspect. The Vietnamese and United States embassies have been contacted over the deaths, and the American FBI was en route, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said. Trairong said a mass suicide was unlikely because some of them had arranged future parts of their trip, such as guides and drivers.
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