Six people have been discovered dead in a suite of a Bangkok hotel, sparking a wave of confusion and speculation across the city. Initially reported as a shooting, authorities have since debunked these claims, focusing instead on a harrowing possibility: poisoning.
The victims, all Vietnamese nationals, including two with dual US citizenship, were found in a room at the Grand Hyatt Erawan hotel.
The cleaning staff discovered the bodies at 4.30 pm on the fifth floor of the hotel. Police were called, and PM Thavisin arrived soon after. "There were no signs of a struggle," the prime minister told a press conference at the hotel.
Thai police, in a subsequent press conference, revealed that preliminary investigations indicated no signs of physical altercation or robbery. Instead, suspicions turned towards a lethal ingestion of a toxic substance, possibly cyanide.
"One of the six dead caused this incident using cyanide," said Noppasil Poonsawas, deputy commander of investigations at Bangkok's Metropolitan Police Bureau, in a press conference. "We are confident that one of the six conducted the crime."
But photos released by police of a bloodless crime scene showed plates of untouched Thai food, and two thermos flasks of coffee and cups.
The police chief said they needed to find out why this happened, adding it was a "killing", not a suicide.
The motive behind this tragic incident remains unclear as authorities delve deeper into the backgrounds of the deceased. Some of the victims were visiting Thailand for the first time, while others were familiar with the country's attractions.
The area where the incident occurred is popular with tourists and has many shopping malls and attractions. There was a shooting in the area last year in which three people were killed. Thailand's tourism industry has been recovering slowly from the pandemic, with 28 million visitors in 2023, up from 11 million the previous year.
The government hopes to attract 35 million visitors in 2024 and generate $55 billion in revenue.