Six people killed by cyanide in Bangkok hotel, Thai police said

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Initial autopsy results have found traces of cyanide in the blood of six Vietnamese and American guests found dead in a luxury hotel in central Bangkok. Thai authorities believe one of the guests poisoned the others due to a bad investment.

The bodies were found on Tuesday at the Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok, a landmark at a central intersection in the capital with many shopping malls, government buildings and public transport.

Bangkok police identified the dead as two Vietnamese Americans and four Vietnamese citizens, all between the ages of 37 and 56.

Among the dead was a married couple who, along with two others, had invested about 10 million baht (254,816 euros) in the construction of a hospital in Japan. Authorities believe the group may have met to settle the matter.

The six were seen alive on Monday afternoon when food was brought to the room. Staff saw a woman accept the food and surveillance footage showed the others gradually arriving shortly after.

There were no other visitors, no one was seen leaving the hotel and the door was locked. A maid found them on Tuesday afternoon when they failed to check out of the hotel.

Trairong Piwpan, chief of the forensic department of the Thai police, said traces of cyanide were found in the cups and thermoses that police found in the room, a finding later confirmed by initial autopsy results.

Police said one of the group killed the others, but did not disclose who the suspect was.

Trairong said a mass suicide was unlikely because some of the dead had been responsible for later parts of their journey, such as guides and drivers. He added that the bodies found in different parts of the hotel room suggested they had not knowingly taken poison and waited together to die.

Kornkiat Vongpaisarnsin, head of the Department of Forensic Medicine at Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Medicine, said at a press conference that cyanide was found in the blood of all six bodies and CT scans showed no signs of blunt force trauma.

Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said the Vietnamese and U.S. embassies had been contacted about the deaths and investigators from the American FBI were on their way to Thailand.

He said the case was not expected to affect a conference with Russian Energy Minister Sergei Ziliev taking place at the hotel later on Wednesday.

“This was not an act of terrorism, nor was it a security breach,” he said. “Everything is fine.”

Last year, Thailand was rocked by reports of a serial killer who poisoned 15 people with cyanide over several years.

Sararat Rangsiwuthaporn, or “Am Cyanide” as she was later known, killed at least 14 people to whom she owed money, becoming the country’s first known female serial killer. One person she targeted survived.