Bangkok hotel horror: 6 foreigners killed in suspected poisoning, Thailand stunned

On Wednesday, Thai forensic police will attempt to unravel the disturbing case, which unfolded in the five-star Grand Hyatt Erawan hotel, a popular destination for upscale tourists, celebrities, and dignitaries. According to authorities, the six Vietnamese victims – three men and three women, two of whom also held American passports – had been dead for roughly 24 hours before a maid stumbled upon the grisly scene on Tuesday afternoon.

“Someone wanted these people dead, but we are waiting for forensics to prove how,” said Thiti Saengsawang, chief of Bangkok’s Metropolitan Police Bureau, noting that six of the tea cups contained suspicious “residues” at the bottom.

The locked hotel room, the untouched room service, and the missing seventh guest have only added to the mystery, sparking a frenzy of speculation on social media – only heightened by erroneous early reports that the six had died in a shoot-out.

“Our working hypothesis is there was a seventh Vietnamese person” and the victims were poisoned, he said.

Police revealed that five rooms had been booked for a group of seven Vietnamese guests, but only six bodies were found in the fifth-floor suite – leaving one person unaccounted for and potentially a suspect.

The disturbing crime scene has fuelled a flurry of conjecture over the motive, from business disputes to outlandish conspiracies. But one expert offered a more scientific observation. Weerachai Phutdhawong, an assistant professor of chemistry at Bangkok’s Kasetsart University, suggested the evidence pointed to cyanide poisoning.

“The only thing that was fully consumed was the tea, and for whatever liquid substance is in the flask to kick off this fast, it must be cyanide,” Phutdhawong said.

While both Vietnamese and