Six people die at luxury hotel in suspected poisoning from drinks laced with cyanide

Six people who were staying in a luxury Bangkok hotel have died in what police suspect is a cyanide poisoning.

Police have reported that six people who were staying in a luxury hotel in Thailand have died after their drinks appeared to be laced with cyanide.

They were found dead and 'foaming at the mouth' by housekeepers at Bangkok's Grand Hyatt Erawan hotel late on Tuesday (16 July).

Investigators who are looking at the case believe they had been dead for at least 24 hours by the time hotel staff had found them after they had failed to check out.

Confusion was amongst local reports of the incident, which initially suggested that there had been a shooting in the hotel room. But police have now been able to paint a more accurate picture of what happened.

Six people have died while staying in Bangkok's luxury Grand Hyatt Erawan hotel. (Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images)

In a press conference held today (17 July), Deputy Bangkok police chief Gen Noppassin Poonsawat reported that the group of six had checked into the hotel separately over the course of the weekend, and were assigned five rooms - four on the seventh floor, and one on the fifth.

They were due to check out of the resort on Monday, but failed to do so.

Four of the victims are Vietnamese nationals - Thi Nguyen Phuong, 46, her husband Hong Pham Thanh, 49, Thi Nguyen Phuong Lan, 47, and Dinh Tran Phu, 37.

The other two were Vietnamese-American, named Sherine Chong, 56, and Dang Hung Van, 55.

As per the BBC, Professor Kornkiat Vongpaisarnsin of the Department of Forensic Medicine at Chulalongkorn University said the victims' lips and nails had turned dark purple indicating a lack of oxygen, while their internal organs turned 'blood red' - another sign of cyanide poisoning.

Police have also reported that one of the deceased could be behind the poisoning, and did so because they owed ‘tens of millions of Thai baht’ (nearly $280,000 worth) to two of the other deceased.

Thai police provided images of the tea cups believed to be laced with cyanide. (CHANAKARN LAOSARAKHAM/AFP via Getty Images)

The group ordered food and tea to one of the hotel rooms on the fifth floor, but refused to let the waiter pour the tea.

There was only Ms Chong present in the room at the time, who the waiter said looked ‘visibly under stress’.

The rest of the group piled in following the room service delivery, and the door was locked from the inside.

While police say there were no signs of a struggle, robbery or forced entry, they did find traces of cyanide in each cup, and the plates of food were left untouched.

Relatives of Thi Nguyen Phuong and Hong Pham Thanh, a couple, were interviewed by the police, and said that they owned a road construction business and had given money to Ms Chong to invest in a hospital building project in Japan.

The US state department has offered its condolences and said it is ‘closely monitoring’ the situation.

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation is also assisting Thai authorities in the investigation.

The six bodies were discovered the day after Thailand had expanded its visa-free entry scheme, which aims to welcome travellers from 93 countries and territories to give a boost to the tourism industry.