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Thailand under pressure to investigate five tourist deaths
The UK, New Zealand and US are reportedly applying diplomatic pressure on Thailand to investigate the deaths of tourists in the northern resort of Chiang Mai following revelation of a fifth fatality within six weeks.
Four people, including a retired British couple, a young woman from New Zealand and a Thai tour guide died within less than three weeks of each other after being taken ill at the two-star Downtown Inn in Chiang Mai last month. It has now emerged that a fifth tourist, a 33-year-old American woman, died in the town in similar circumstances, though she was not staying at the same hotel.
The retired British couple in their 70s, George and Eileen Everitt from Lincolnshire, had checked in to the hotel on February 9 and were found dead in their room 10 days later.
It later emerged that a 47-year-old Thai woman had died in the bathroom of her hotel on February 3 and the following day a New Zealand woman had died after she and two friends who were staying at the hotel fell ill. Her friends recovered.
In an interview with Asia Pacific News the hotel’s acting manager Vinai Julsiri claimed the deaths, which had initially been blamed on food poisoning, were a coincidence, but Thailand has come under pressure from the New Zealand and UK authorities to carry out further investigations, especially since the discovery of the fifth death.
The father of the New Zealand victim, Sarah Carter, is calling on the Thai and New Zealand authorities to close the Downtown Inn hotel, which is featured by Travel Republic in the UK, until a thorough investigation has been made.
Initial reports suggested Ms Carter and her friends had eaten toxic seaweed at Chiang Mai’s night market and police said there were no signs of toxic substances or drugs in the bodies of those who died at the Downtown Inn and no signs of fighting or attack. They are still waiting for the post-mortem results.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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