All six Vietnamese died of cyanide poisoning, autopsy report reveals
Autopsy reports of the six Vietnamese nationals found dead in a five-star hotel in Bangkok’s Ratchaprasong area on Tuesday evening showed their deaths were caused by cyanide poisoning.
Meanwhile, police are investigating the source of the cyanide.
Initial investigations show the motive for the crime stemmed from outstanding debt, and one of the six was the suspected perpetrator of the crime, according to police..
Associate Prof Dr Chanchai Sithipunt, director of Chulalongkorn Hospital and dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Chulalongkorn University, announced the preliminary autopsy results on Wednesday, confirming that the six Vietnamese had died from cyanide poisoning.
He said all of them had died around 12-24 hours before their bodies were discovered, based on the examination of postmortem changes such as muscle stiffening and blood cell analysis.
No signs of physical assault were found upon examination with radiography and body dissection. The consistent findings across all bodies included signs of asphyxiation, with dark purple lips, face, and fingertips, indicating that the deaths involved oxygen deprivation. The bright red colour of blood pooling in the lower parts of the bodies, differing from usual postmortem changes, suggested the involvement of a toxic substance, he said.
The exact amount of cyanide ingested by each of the six deceased is still under investigation. He said it could not be determined who had died first, but the changes in all bodies were consistent with a time frame of 12-24 hours. Further screening for other substances will take 1-2 weeks.
An in-depth examination of internal organs is pending.
Police have said that it was possible to purchase cyanide illegally, either through online sources or smuggled into the country, and the immigration authorities could not fully control these illegal activities.
