Cyanide found on tea cups after 6 people die at Bangkok hotel

Six Vietnamese tourists whose bodies were found at a Bangkok hotel died from cyanide poisoning in a suspected murder-suicide, according to Thai investigators. A dispute over large debts is believed to be the motive.

At a briefing on Wednesday, officials from the Metropolitan Police Bureau said traces of cyanide were found on six tea cups and a water container in the room where the bodies were found. There is no evidence that anyone else entered the room.

“There are no other possibilities. The culprit is among the six because they were the only people who entered the room. There were no others,” Theeradet Thumsuthee, of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, said at the briefing.

The bodies of the three men and three women, two of whom also had U.S. citizenship, were found at the Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel in Thailand’s capital at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday. It’s assumed they died more than a day earlier, possibly at around 2:20 p.m.

According to investigators, the group had ordered food and tea which was delivered at around 2 p.m. on Monday, when 56-year-old Sherine Chong was the only person in the room. The waiter offered to make tea but Chong, who was “visibly under stress,” refused.

The five others entered the room a short time later, with the last one arriving at 2:17 p.m. No one else entered or left the room until their bodies were found and there were no signs of struggle or forced entry. Their food was mostly untouched, some of it still in wraps.

Investigators believe all six drank from cups laced with cyanide, which is capable of causing death within minutes if ingested in large amounts. Two of the victims tried to reach the door, which was locked from the inside, but collapsed and died.

Relatives told police that two of the deceased had loaned “tens of millions” in Thai baht (at least $556,000) to Chong to invest in a hospital project in Japan. A third person in the group is also believed to have given money to Chong.

“The case likely stems from a debt problem,” Theeradet said.