Sisters Found Dead In Thai Hotel Room - Similar To Other Deaths On Same Island
Two sisters from Quebec were found dead in a Thai hotel room. Thai authorities are convinced the two women died of food poisoning. To me, it sounds like they had something else happen. The women were found by a maid who said there was vomit all over the hotel room and that the women had blood coming out of their mouths and lesions on their face and bodies. Now, I have had a lot of food poisoning in my life but never have I had anything like that happen to me. Police said there is no foul play suspected, but this seems really bizarre. I wonder if they died of some superbug that is going to make its way across the world.
Or, it could be something more sinister. A reader named Nadira sent this to me today. This is a blog run by the fiancee of an American woman who died on the same island in Thailand back in 2009 under very unusual circumstances.
From a place that tolerates a sex industry for adults seeking children, I don't doubt for a moment that this is a major shady cover up. Doubt we will ever discover the truth to what happened to these ladies. Food poisoning my ass. Leave Thailand off your bucket list, people.
ReplyDeleteDidn't David Carradine die in Thailand? I have to say I'm just not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that it was really auto-erotic asphyxiation--wasn't there some evidence that a woman had been seen on tape going in and out of his room around the time he would have died? It's a lot easier to say "oh, the stupid foreigner killed himself by accident" than to conduct an investigation to make sure that he hadn't been "helped along," as it were. After looking over the American woman (Jill's) fiance's blog, I wouldn't be at all surprised if toxic chemicals were the problems in most, if not all, of these cases. You'd think the local authorities would want to take care of any problems at least for the sake of their own people who work there, but...
ReplyDeleteAnd don't worry, @nolachickee--I've never had any Third World countries on my bucket list...
sounds like they were poisoned, not by food.
ReplyDeleteThis is totally going to be turned into a mystery movie starring John Cusack. I can see it now
ReplyDeleteas much as Hangover II tried to make Thailand a lovely place. Looked disgusting to me and is 100% not on my bucket list.
ReplyDeleteI knew someone who's father would take yearly trips to thailand for sex tour this was in the 80's and early 90's before it was commonly known. His wife divorced im after he lazily took pictures of his hotel room with the hookers still in it.
I think car54 has it right. It's been reported here that it was poisoning, and they both had suspicious rashes on their bodies. Hopefully the truth will come out.
ReplyDeleteThis is tragic. I hope they find the truth.
ReplyDeleteOne of my best friends died in Thailand in 2003. We were told he was hit by a drunk driver but I've always been suspicious of that story. His body was cremated immediately and sent back to the US. I'd had Thailand on my bucket list ever since but I may forego that trip until this is settled.
I wonder if the rashes were a result of ketamine on a cloth covering their faces? That would also explain the vomit found.
ReplyDeleteI just went to that link and then subsequent links from the web site for the woman, Jill, who died a few years back. It seems that New Zealand seems to believe, now, from tests they took that a Kiwi named Sarah who died mysteriously was from pesticides to kill bed bugs (traces of the chemical from her room/mattress were still evident three months after the room had been scrubbed) and it was attributed to probably an overzealous sprayer (to kill the bed bugs) on orders from the hotel manager. Additionally, it seems as though the pesticides used on foods in these areas heavily visited by tourists perhaps may not be thoroughly cleaned off the foods that are then prepared and served up. There was a comment on the "About Jill" blog that speculated that it could have been from gases and or chemicals from a water treatment facility that was very close to the place the two sisters died in Enty's post.
ReplyDeleteI think the pesticide overspray in the rooms (bed bugs and other tropical nuisances) makes a lot of sense as well as the pesticide residue on foods grown and then prepared and eaten. It would explain the violent reactions and the mysterious rashes they had on their bodies as well.
Sounds like poison to me too.
ReplyDeleteBut I wonder if it's even worse, a super bug scare me silly.
Here's a link from today's Toronto Star. Sorry for the poor link.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1212682--thai-police-probe-holiday-deaths-of-two-sisters-from-quebec?bn=1
Vomit is acidic. It's not unusual to find lesions on the face and body when people asphyxiate and lay in their own vomit but Thailand is a super shady place for the very reasons mentioned above especially the child prostitution. It's pretty and the food is good but not the best place to visit on a romantic trip with your man b/c there are prostitutes constantly coming up to him and proposing sex right in front of you as though you don't even exist even within resort confines. We're sticking to Tahiti or Bali from now on.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we should stop patronizing Thailand with regular tourism b/c everyone and anything is pretty much exploited there. There are so many other beautiful places in the world.
ReplyDeleteM I like your answer, I was going to say bad drugs maybe? But your answer Makes sense to me, the rashes, throwing up, lesions, sounds like poisoning. When will people learn, if it's going to kill a living thing, maybe a higher dose of it will kill or harm us. Poison is poison. Bed bugs are supposed to be impossible to kill, except by extreme heat exposure. I wonder just how toxic the chemical is if it destroys the indestructible. This is why I dislike China's manufacturing and production philosophy of if it works then sell it. Baby formula, pet food, pesticides, they don't care as long as it does what it's supposed to do. The government is so corrupt that it doesn't matter what kind of regulation they do or say they will. It's all about getting someone to buy what they sell, not that American businesses don't do the same thing, but they at least have a modicum of pretending they care to avoid public backlash. I don't have a problem with China per se, just their business practices. The pollution is so extreme there, they don't seem to get the concept of don't shit where you eat. It seems to be as long as you make your money you can move to a nice area, pay off officials, and not have to deal with your problems. America has the same problem, but public outcry and opinion save the day.
ReplyDeleteHere's a clickable link for surfer:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1212682--thai-police-probe-holiday-deaths-of-two-sisters-from-quebec?bn=1
I say China's business practices because they manufacture so many products. I realise this is in Thailand. Not that this insecticide is for sure from China, it just brought up a sore subject.
ReplyDeleteWow lots of ignorance here. I have many thai friends from boarding school and it is WESTERN men who have made this beautiful place a sex hell hole. There are still many many beautiful spiritual places and people to meet
ReplyDeleteWow lots of ignorance here. I have many thai friends from boarding school and it is WESTERN men who have made this beautiful place a sex hell hole. There are still many many beautiful spiritual places and people to meet
ReplyDeleteSorry for double post and being cut off mid flow!
DeleteObviously some cover up here. My heart goes out to the family xxx
@thetruth, but the Western men go because it's tolerated. Yes, these men need some sort of help, but if the Thai authorities allow the behavior, they will continue to go there. In Thailand, there is no consequence for being a pedo sex tourist.
ReplyDeleteBtw, here is the correct link to the blog Enty linked to:
http://jillstonge.blogspot.nl/
Totally. #moneyrootofallevil
DeleteThanks Ms Cool!
ReplyDeleteThat blog is heartbreaking. Can't imagine what the poor girl's fiance has been through, having to watch her deteriorate so fast, right in front of him, as he was desperately trying to get her help. He's lucky to have escaped the same fate.
ReplyDeleteI hope they figure out what's causing this. It seems to happen so fast, the person starts feeling sick and then 10-12 hours later they're dead. Scary stuff.
@thetruth - ITA. I've been to Thailand 9 times, and many of the trips were 3 months long. Yes, there's prostitution, but the Thai's don't approve of pedophiles. Most Thai's are kind and honest.
ReplyDeleteThe girls could have died from insecticide, but other people on the island didn't report that they felt ill. I think it was foul play. It's strange that the article doesn't mention if their money was missing.
People often let down their guard on vacation and are vulnerable. Crimes can happen anywhere. If you go down the wrong street in LA you might get robbed by a thug with a gun. You need to always pay attention and be cautious. If I meet someone that instantly acts like my new best friend and offers me tea, I don't drink it because it could be drugged. When you're on holiday you equal a mini atm machine to these type of preditors.
Read Serpentine by Thomas Thompson (1979). It's about the life of Charles Sobhraj, and how he drugged, robbed, conned and murdered tourtist all over Asia. He was like a Charles Manson, and often talked his new friends into doing the crimes for him. The book will probably seem dated, but I learned a lot about how to protect myself when traveling from reading it.
here we go ... seen the movie Contagion?
ReplyDeleteI just googled this story and read the blog link posted above. I'm probably wrong about foul play. It sounds like it could something toxic near their room. That island got messed up bad from the tsunami and they probably didn't repair things the right way. I still don't get why more travelers haven't been ill? Keep in mind that Thailand wants tourism dollars, so reporting food poisoning sounds better than toxic waste or crime.
ReplyDeleteFive years ago I was in Thailand with my husband & I got so frigging sick with food poisoning I will never, ever go back. Three days in a hotel room sitting on a toilet? No thanks.
ReplyDeleteYeppers Nosey, radiation sickness is the only thing that consistently comes up re: the symptoms.
ReplyDeleteAn old boss of mine went to Thailand a few years ago. He brought me a really pretty stone elephant figurine when he returned. A co-worker(who loved flirting with him) said something like "I should have given you 20 bucks so you would bring me something" He said "Over there, I could have bought YOU for 10 bucks and pocketed the rest"
Doesn't sound like an ideal situation. Even if I were still in my stoner phase...foreign country+not knowing your way around+getting stoned out of your mind=probably won't end well.
(Not implying either one of these poor ladies were doing drugs, just adding my 2 as far as it not exactly being a safe place. imo)
Wow. Tourists get sick and killed EVERYWHERE. There's prostitution EVERYWHERE. There's food poisoning risks EVERYWHERE. But hey, this happened so the whole country must be bad, guess we'll just keep going to Disneyworld.
ReplyDeleteThis story is so awful. The girls were in a new place and drinking what people on this island call buckets... giant cups that are filled to the brim with alcohol from many diffrent bars through the evening. Its very probable someone put toxins in thier buckets while they were already wasted. The two survivors from the first deaths should compare notes about what was ingested... shady people seem friendly when you've had a few buckets too many.
ReplyDeleteIn 2009 Jill was in Rm 4 and a girl named Julie was in Rm 5 and Julie died a few hours later same day under similar circumstances. Her roomate was sick also, but lived.
ReplyDeleteThere were also articles in the paper regarding numerous drownings and approx. 14 deaths on the roads in a short span of time.
Really a fun place
@thetruth - I don't doubt there are many beautiful and spiritual places to see in Thailand. If Western men were caned for soliciting minors for sex in Thailand, you can bet all the pedophiles and pederasts would go elsewhere instead, like the Dominican Republic.
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely suspicious and I hope the Quebec authorities demand a proper investigation. Poor girls - it sounds like they ingested something very caustic. Jesus, and my daughter wants to go to Thailand by herself. I'm going to buy "Broken Down Palace" on dvd for her, and then start sending her these stories. And to think I was relieved because she opted not to tour Columbia. :(
I always remember that perfectly dreadful Leonardo Decafcappucino movie about a bunch of hideous vegan-looking pot-smoking mouthbreathers who build a "perfect" world without deodorant or emotional honesty, THE BEACH, and goodness sakes that was an ugly look at ugly Europeans uglying up an otherwise beautiful landscape. Ugh, it was horrid.
ReplyDeleteI've known a lot of Thai people in Seattle and British Columbia, and they're wonderful people. People don't really seem to go to Thailand to meet the people, though, and the tourist trade is aimed at people who want to get wasted and pay someone to touch their junk. On the positive side, the money flowing into the country helps out.
i was in holiday twice in Thailand:a tour and next to Phuket and i never had trouble.I was alone and i walked in night alone (i slept 2 hours per night during a week because of te jetlag) but i avoided the rough neighborhoods
ReplyDeleteBut the articles talked about a chemical smell in the room. Sounds like toxic spray. They were on a very small island over an hour away from Phuket. It's hard to exterminate on islands. I hope they figure this out.
ReplyDeleteDon't insult the whole country just because two people died on vacation there. We have no idea what happened. Worse stuff happens in the US everyday to people on vacation. Just travel smart.
ReplyDeleteHere is a link for the woman who died from New Zealand:
ReplyDeletehttp://phuketwan.com/tourism/bed-bug-spray-blamed-tourists-mysterious-death-14069/
There have actually been multiple people die on Koh Phi Phi in the same way over the last few years. This 60 minutes New Zealand report states that 7 deaths occurred in Chiang Mai, 4 in the same hotel. http://ondemand.tv3.co.nz/60-Minutes-Thailands-Tourist-Deaths/tabid/59/articleID/2782/MCat/22/Default.aspx
ReplyDeleteI agree that people shouldn't paint Thailand with a broad brush - many people have a safe and wonderful experience there. I would caution against going to SE Asia on the cheap.
And any tourist area wants to quash any bad publicity (see Jaws).
The Beach was actually filmed on Phi Phi, in a strange twist. Also there's a bit of misinformation about "buckets" - they're actually jugs/small buckets filled with a quarter of alcohol, a red bull and a mixer. You can buy them in bars or from the local shops, where they have them presented out front with everything still in its container. It could be dodgy alcohol poisoning, as you don't really get anything other than "local" booze in a bucket - but surely more people would have gotten sick.
ReplyDeleteYou hear a lot of horror stories about linen being toxic with too much bug spray, so you tend to have a good sniff when you first enter a room. Maybe these girls weren't aware of the problem...
There's also a food source called Cassava that is found there.
ReplyDeleteIt must be properly prepared before consumption or it can
leave enough residual cyanide to cause acute cyanide intoxication
(I think the symptoms match ?).
I do not think it is an Enty "superbug".
Tragic for their families.
Phi Phi island is the island that The Beach was shot on. I was there a few years back. Fabulous.
ReplyDeleteEnty, from this article I have spent so long clicking through to the other blogs and stories connected to this that I forgot I started clicking from this item here. This is awful and mind-boggling.
ReplyDelete@M - I think you are on the mark with the bug spray theory. There are pesticides that are absolutely horrid and should NEVER be used around areas where any kind of animal that you care about would come in direct contact with it. It's even possible that they could have used a herbicide instead of pesticide.
ReplyDeletethey should suspend all tourism until it's determined what is causing the deaths. i'm so sad for the families, not knowing what happened to their loved ones. they deserve some answers.
ReplyDeleteSuspend all tourism? Really? You know that is impossible, right?
ReplyDeleteYikes. That is such a sad story- both the current one and the Jill/Julie incident. Hopefully these families will get the answers and closure they are looking for..
ReplyDeleteITA with Nosey Parker and KPeony... travel smart out there...
So sad. I agree it sounds like chemical poisoning. I feel for their families.
ReplyDeletesounds like they bought some really bad drugs, sadly.
ReplyDelete^^ and I meant like some fake, toxic, chemical "drugs." Like for example, they wanted Ecstasy and they got some fake toxic shit.
ReplyDeleteanita - it's not impossible. it's up to people to not go there. if all tourists black list it, what would they do?
ReplyDeleteit's the same when all these pandemics or flu's start. they really should stop planes from transporting sick people all over the place to stop the spreading, but they won't. for them it's all about money, they don't care about people. unless they start losing money, they don't react the way they should.
it's up to the people to protect themselves. your politicians don't give two shits about you or your loved ones, they just want your vote. the thai government doesn't give two shits about tourists, they just want your money.
is it impossible to just pick another vacation destination?
Tourists die all the time. ALL THE TIME. It doesn't always get reported because often, it's accidental, not murder. Because two people die in a country means it should be boycotted? That's very naive thinking.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, it is up to the people to protect themselves. What is the government supposed to do? For the Candian department of Foreign Affairs, it's main function for Consular services is to make people aware. There are travel reports and all sorts of information for travellers so they can make informed decisions. And the Thai government will certainly care because their economy depends heavily on tourist dollars.
More Canadians die in the Caribbean and Mexico then elsewhere.
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ReplyDeleteYet another good point @anita_mark! It came in as I was posting mine. I might just add that even MORE Candians die of tragic shit--in Canada. ;-P
ReplyDeleteITA with @anita_mark.
ReplyDeleteIt's just so typically American to hear a story like this and conclude no one should go to Thailand.
Come ON.
A friend of mine died in a canoeing accident in Lake Michigan in October. It was tragic, horrifying. For reasons that still aren't quite clear, he uncharacteristically wasn't wearing a life jacket. So what can we conclude from this? That no one should canoe? Or no one should go in Lake Michigan? How about everyone should wear life jackets? Yes, that makes more sense, doesn't it.
Of course these deaths should be investigated. But that doesn't mean that every time you hear a horror story about a given locale that that entire nation should be boycotted from travel. Shoot, I could make up a list of recent events in my beloved Chicago that would make anyone fear to ever set foot there again.
This is a sad story but I hate reading comments like don't go to Thailand because of this... Thailand is beautiful - please don't condemn an entire country because of an incident...
ReplyDeleteok, to be nice, I do like Thai Food. I just don't want to visit the country. I wouldn't feel safe unless I was in the more expensive resorts and I couldn't afford it. So no Thai for me.
ReplyDeletefirst off, i'm referring to these incidents in thailand specifically, not to the millions of tourists throughout the world. i travel myself.... mexico and now thailand, are off my list indefinitely. there is a whole world of other countries to visit and spend my money on.
ReplyDeletethe point i was trying to make is that these people (and there are many, not just a few, please take some time to read the links provided in the families blog) are dying and the families are still waiting for answers, years later.
how many more tourists have to die before something is done???
it seems like something drastic always has to happen before something is taken seriously.
and i'm sorry to hear of your friend who died canoeing. very unfortunate accident.
it would be great if the families of the thailand victims had similar closure.
Raped, poisoned, murdered. That's what my guts tell me.
ReplyDelete