ONE YEAR on from the mysterious deaths of Jill St Onge and Julie Bergheim on the holiday island of Phi Phi, we cannot tell you what killed them. Two young women, both still in their '20s, died from causes unknown, on one of Thailand's best-known tourist destinations.

It is doubtful that anyone on Phi Phi this weekend will mourn the two young women, one from the US, the other from Norway. From all accounts, the people on Phi Phi would prefer to forget the two dead tourists and the riddle surrounding their demise.

Yet in Norway, they will remember. And in parts of the US, and in the hearts of their loved-ones, their deaths will not be forgotten.

Phuketwan is not inclined to forget, either. Tourists are supposed to come to Phuket and the Andaman to enjoy their holidays, not to have their lives snuffed out.

As journalists, we sometimes struggle to explain these matters, because people are almost always reluctant to tell us what they know.

However, Ryan Kells told us back then about the haste with which he was pushed off Phi Phi, with the body of his dead fiancee, Jill St Onge, in the bottom of a speed boat.

The two dead women and their companions had been staying in adjoining rooms at the Laleena Guesthouse on Phi Phi. Ryan and Jill had checked in on Saturday, May 2.

Julie Bergheim and her friend Karina Refseth had been there for a few days, enjoying the social life on Phi Phi. Before the Monday, both women were dead.

The couples never met, yet they shared the same agony. Karina Refseth fell ill and narrowly escaped the same fate, and only gave an account of her thoughts about that weekend many months later.

For Ryan Kells, the pain continued. Although he and Jill were long-time partners, the US Embassy in Bangkok would not and could not acknowledge him as family, even though the couple were to be married, which is a sad reflection on outmoded attitudes.

The Norwegian embassy, on the other hand, is believed to have driven further investigation and insisted on a second autopsy in Norway. While St Onge was cremated in Bangkok, Bergheim's body was sent home.

It is not possible for us to say that the Norwegians necessarily mourn citizens who happen to be lost overseas more than Americans. But perhaps they do not have as much experience, and as a nation, they consist of a tight-knit, loving community.

Yet even the best forensic science in Norway, exploring every possible option, could not determine what killed Julie, and therefore probably Jill.

Over the past year, we at Phuketwan have talked to many people in search of the cause of the deaths, in Thailand, in the US and in Norway. We wish we had the answer.