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Jill St Onge and Ryan Kells: 'inconclusive' claim adds confusion

Phi Phi Deaths Riddle: 'No Findings' Autopsy Claim

Saturday, June 13, 2009
Monday UPDATE

Police in Norway are now proposing a second autopsy on one victim. A US Embassy spokesman confirmed on Monday that the autopsy report on Jill St Onge arrived at the embassy late on Friday afternoon. ''As usual, we do not make these documents public,'' the spokesman said. ''The embassy is translating it and an English language copy will be sent to her family.''

Earlier Report

MYSTERY continues to surround the deaths of two young women tourists who were staying at the same guesthouse on the holiday island of Phi Phi when they suddenly became ill.

The Norwegian Ambassador, Merete Fjeld Brattested, told Phuketwan yesterday that the results of an autopsy on Julie Bergheim, 22, had been passed to the embassy on Wednesday, and forwarded on to the Bergheim family.

The ambassador said that she was not at liberty to reveal what the report contained because this was a private matter for the family.

A spokesperson at the US embassy in Bangkok said yesterday he was unable to confirm that results had been sent to the embassy or the St Onge family by Thai authorities after the autopsy on the American victim, Jill St Onge, 27.

The results of the two autopsies are, as in last week's notorious case involving American actor David Carradine, and his death in a Bangkok hotel closet, supposed to be a private matter.

An online site of a local Phuket newspaper today claims the autopsy results on the two Phi Phi victims were ''inconclusive.''

The report quotes a deputy health official in Krabi, the province that contains Phi Phi, as saying that tests on blood and tissue taken from the bodies showed the cause ''definitely wasn't food poisoning.''

The health official is also quoted as saying: ''This is looking like some freak accident.''

There has been no statement yet from the Royal Thai Police Institute of Forensic Medicine in Bangkok, where the autopsies were conducted.

Krabi Governor Siwa Sirisoawaluk, who had previously suggested it would be unwise to speculate about the cause of the deaths, told Phuketwan he was unaware of the results of the autopsies.

The two women were in adjoining rooms at Laleena Guesthouse on Phi Phi, about 90 minutes by ferry from the larger island of Phuket, when they fell ill in early May.

Both women died within hours of each other at the local hospital, having fallen ill suffering similar symptoms. Two other people also fell ill, but survived.

Ryan Kells, 31, Miss St Onge's companion, believes her death involved some kind of chemical, possibly circulated into their adjoining rooms through the airconditioning.

Miss Bergheim's 19-year-old companion, a Norwegian woman, remained seriously ill for several days.

She probably has the most complete survivor's account of what transpired, but she has been reluctant so far to talk to the media.

Phuketwan File on the Phi Phi Mystery


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Comments

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This endless sniping between Phuketwan and the Gazette is utterly undignified. Both of you, please, grow up.

Editor: What ''endless sniping?'' Our beef is with the way this important and sensitive information has been released, and whether what's being said is accurate.

Posted by Anonymous on June 14, 2009 16:01


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