Mystery of Bangkok hotel deaths: What we know so far
Who were the six people found dead in Bangkok's Grand Hyatt Erawan hotel? What did Thai police find in the room?
People walk outside the Grand Hyatt Erawan hotel in Bangkok where six people were found dead in a room on Jul 16, 2024. (Photo: AP/Napat Kongsawad)
Update: Thai police concluded on Wednesday (Jul 17) that this was a case of murder-suicide, with one of the dead believed to be behind the poisonings.
Mystery has surrounded the discovery of six bodies at a luxury Bangkok hotel room on Tuesday (Jul 16), in what Thai media initially said was a shooting.Â
Police now suspect that the six people found dead - all of Vietnamese descent - were poisoned.
Here is what we know so far:
WHAT HAPPENED?
The six foreign nationals checked into Bangkok's Grand Hyatt Erawan hotel at two separate times after arriving on Saturday and Sunday, according to the chief of Bangkok's Metropolitan Police, Thiti Saengsawang.
The group of three men and three women checked into different rooms - four on the seventh floor and one on the fifth floor.
Guests in the seventh-floor rooms were meant to check out on Monday afternoon but they did not. The check-out timing for the fifth-floor room was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.
Cleaning staff discovered the six bodies on Tuesday afternoon - all in the fifth-floor room.
The police were called at about 5.30pm local time.
There was a seventh guest on the booking and authorities are looking for this person.
WHO ARE THE SIX PEOPLE?
All six were Vietnamese, according to Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin.
Two of them had dual US nationality, identified in Thai media as Chong Sherine, 56, and Dang Hung Van, 55.Â
According to the Bangkok Post, the other four were Nguyen Thi Phuong Lan, 47, Pham Hong Thanh, 49, Tran Dinh Phu, 37, and Nguyen Thi Phuong, 46.
Some of them appeared to have been on their first trip to Thailand.
The seventh guest, who has yet to be found, is a Vietnamese citizen.
WHAT WAS FOUND IN THE ROOM?
Four bodies were found in the living room area. The other two were in the bedroom, according to the Bangkok Post, citing the Bangkok police chief Thiti.
“Suspicious substances” were found at the bottom of glasses in the hotel room, said the police.
There were also five tea cups on another table and it looked like people had drunk from them.
Plates of uneaten food ordered from room service were left on a table. Some of them were still covered in plastic wrap.
It was not clear at this point when the six were last seen.Â
Their bags were packed. Suitcases were found near the front door, the Bangkok Post reported.
The Grand Hyatt Erawan has over 350 rooms. It is located in a popular tourist district that is home to several upscale shopping malls and the Erawan shrine, a visitor draw.
WHAT'S THE FOCUS OF INVESTIGATIONS?Â
Thai authorities say there were no signs of robbery or assault. The room had not been ransacked. It was locked from the inside.
"The initial suspicion is that it might involve something ingested, based on the autopsy and forensic evidence," said the Thai prime minister, who visited the hotel late on Tuesday with senior police officials.Â
"It is suspected that they have been dead for about 24 hours."
The police also ruled out a suicide, without providing further explanation.
"What we can prove now is that they are not dead from suicide but from the killing of others,” said police chief Thiti.
From the fingerprint investigation, no outsiders had entered the room, he told reporters.
“It is possible that it occurred from the inside, possibly a hideout,” he said, adding that none of the six people had any injuries.
WHAT NEXT?
The police said they were looking for a motive and were looking into the guests' whereabouts before they were found dead.
"We are tracing every step since they got off the plane,"Â said Thiti.
An autopsy should reveal if the six people were poisoned.
Thai interior minister Anutin Charnvirakul told CNA he did not think the deaths were a result of any act of terrorism or organised crime.
"This is very rare but this doesn’t involve any local people or any act of violence," he added as he sought to assure people that Thailand is a safe place for tourists.
