Phuketwan Updating News
THE CAUSE of poisoning that killed two tourists on Phi Phi over the weekend is being investigated, the Governor of Krabi, Siwa Sirisaowalak, said today.
The tourists, both young women, were from the US and Norway. They had been staying at the same small local guesthouse.
A blog posted online by a companion who was travelling with one of the victims suggests that the air conditioning may have been the cause.
But a doctor on the island this afternoon said investigations were focussing on what the two women, and a third who survived, had had to drink.
Consumption of alcohol mixed with fruit juice was common to all three cases, the doctor said.
A Bangkok specialist epidemiologist is already on Phil Phi, seeking to find the reason behind the mysterious fatalities.
Thailand's top forensic scientist, Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand, is expected to be involved in autopsies to determine what killed the women.
A spokeswoman at Vachira Hospital on Phuket confirmed the bodies of two women had been received from Phi Phi and sent on to Bangkok for forensic tests.
A third tourist, a woman, aged 19, from Norway, was treated at Phi Phi Hospital and has been discharged.
Phuketwan has had conflicting reports about the precise circumstances of the deaths.
Police Lieutenant Pantanan Sangtong, who investigated the deaths, said the Norwegian woman died around 8am on Sunday at Phi Phi Hospital.
She had been staying with her boyfriend at a local guesthouse, the officer said.
On Monday, two Americans from the same guesthouse fell sick. One, a woman aged 26, died, Lieutenant Pantanan said.
Other reports said the American woman was the first to fall ill and die.
The Norwegian embassy in Bangkok confirmed that a Norwegian citizen had died.
The 23-year-old woman will have an autopsy performed to determine the precise cause of her death, along with the other woman victim.
It is understood all three victims because ill suddenly on Phi Phi at the weekend, at different times.
Dr Buncha Khakong, of the Public Health Department in Krabi, told Phuketwan that the first woman victim arrived at the hospital at 7.20am on Sunday.
She was vomiting, feeling weak and had low blood pressure, he said. By 8am, she was dead.
She told nurses that she had been vomiting since 7pm the previous evening, Dr Buncha said. The patient thought at first that her illness might be a hangover from a drinking session.
Dr Buncha said a rudimentary autopsy performed at Phi Phi Hospital showed no obvious cause of death.
The second woman presented at the hospital at 9.30pm on Sunday, having fallen ill at 9.30am. She was dead by 11pm, he said.
No autopsy was done on Phi Phi on the second woman. Both bodies were sent to Phuket together, he said.
A spokeswoman for Sea Angel ferries, one of several companies that ply between Phuket and Phi Phi, said today that tourist arrival and departure numbers were normal.
Scandasia.com reported that according to the Foreign Ministry in Oslo, Thai police has started an investigation into the cause of the death of the Norwegian woman.
Scandasia named the dead American woman as Jill St. Onge from Seattle, who was staying at the same guest house as the Norwegian woman, along with her boyfriend.
A spokeswoman at the American Embassy in Bangkok said this afternoon she could supply no information.
Phi Phi, part of Krabi province, is about an hour and 45 minutes by ferry from Thailand's main holiday island, Phuket.
It consists of two main islands and has recovered its popularity with backpackers since about 850 people died there during the 2004 tsunami.
The regular full moon parties on Phi Phi are notorious for drugs.
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For Phuket Wan to claim that these are poisoning deaths is about as irresponsible reporting as possible. Did you get the autopsy report already that will take over a month to complete? ( btw, Adamant means to defend vigorously )
Posted by Media Watch on May 6, 2009 16:48