Foreign News
Cyanide teacups in Room 502: Mystery of the Bangkok hotel deaths
There was little to indicate what had happened on the fifth floor of the Grand Hyatt Erawan in Bangkok until police officers opened the door.
No-one was heard to scream, or had rung for help. No-one had even made it to the door.
Even inside, there were apparently no signs of struggle – the untouched late lunch still laid out neatly on the table for the occupants to enjoy.
From outside of Room 502, the only clue to the horror inside the locked room was the fact the group were late checking out of the hotel.
And yet inside were six bodies, alongside tea cups laced with cyanide.
It didn’t take officers long to work out the occupants of the room had drunk the poisoned tea, or to find out who the apparent victims were.
But days after police revealed the grim discovery, big questions remain: why them – and who did it?
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 are American citizens of Vietnamese origin – Sherine Chong, 56, and Dang Hung Van, 55.
According to investigators, Chong was believed to have borrowed 10 million baht ($280,000; £215,000) from husband and wife Hong Pham Thanh and Thi Nguyen Phuong to invest in a hospital building project in Japan. The couple, who owned a construction business, had apparently tried in vain to get their money back.
In fact, the matter was due to go to court in Japan in a matter of weeks.
On the face of it, this meeting appeared to be an attempt to discuss the issue in advance of the case.
Thi Nguyen Phuong Lan was there because Chong – who US media have said lived in Oakland, California – had asked her to act as her intermediary with the couple regarding the investment.
But how were the other two linked to the case?
Dinh Tran Phu – a successful make-up artist whose clientele includes movie stars, singers and beauty queens in Vietnam – was at the gathering working for Chong.
His father, speaking to BBC Vietnamese, emphasised the fact he had travelled to Thailand with his regular clients, not with strangers.
A close friend, meanwhile, said he knew both Thi Nguyen Phuong and Thi Nguyen Phuong Lan, having introduced them to treatments at a friend’s spa in Da Nang, where he lived.
Dang Hung Van’s participation in the hotel suite meeting was not immediately clear.
Police said there was a seventh name in the hotel reservation, the sister of one of the six. That person returned to Vietnam from Thailand last week and police said she was not involved in the incident.
The group checked into the hotel separately over the weekend and were assigned five rooms – four on the seventh floor, and one on the fifth.
Chong checked into Room 502 on Sunday. The five others visited her in her suite that day, but they headed back to their respective rooms for the night.
Before noon on Monday, Dang Hung Van ordered six cups of tea while Dinh Tran Phu, the make-up artist, ordered fried rice from their respective rooms. They asked that it be delivered to Room 502 at 14:00 local time.
A few minutes before 14:00, Chong started receiving the food orders at Room 502. She was alone in the suite at that time.
Police said she refused the waiter’s offer to brew tea for her party. The waiter also found that she “spoke very little and was visibly under stress”.
The rest of the group started arriving soon after. The couple went in lugging a suitcase.
At 14:17, all six could be seen by the door before it was shut. From then on, there was no sign of movement from inside.
They had been scheduled to check out on Monday but failed to do so.
Police entered the room at 16:30 on Tuesday and found the six dead on the floor.
The initial investigation found that two appeared to have tried get to the suite’s door, but failed to reach it in time.
All the bodies bore signs of cyanide poisoning, which can – in certain doses – kill within minutes. Their lips and nails had turned dark purple indicating a lack of oxygen, while their internal organs turned “blood red”, which is another sign of cyanide poisoning.
Investigators say there is “no other cause” that would explain their deaths “except for cyanide”.
Further tests are being carried out to determine the “intensity” of the deadly chemical and to rule out any other toxins.
Cyanide starves the body’s cells of oxygen, which can induce heart attacks. Early symptoms include dizziness, shortness of breath and vomiting.
Its use in Thailand is heavily regulated and those found to have unauthorised access face up to two years in jail.
Police suspect that one of the dead was behind the poisoning and was driven by crushing debt – but have not said who.
According to Vietnamese outlet VN Express, investigators said Chong had been sued by all the other five over their failed investments.
The meeting in Bangkok was called to negotiate a settlement, but the attempt failed.
Police have sought a statement from the group’s tour guide in Bangkok, 35-year-old Phan Ngoc Vu.
The guide reportedly said that before she died, Thi Nguyen Phuong Lan, the mediator, had asked someone to buy traditional medicine containing snake blood for her joint pains.
Then there are the two metal beverage containers that did not belong to the hotel found by police in the suite.
The containers were placed beside the cyanide-laced teacups, near the dining table.
What is certain is that officials want the matter resolved quickly.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has directed officials in Hanoi to co-ordinate closely with their Thai counterparts on the investigation.
As for Thai authorities, it couldn’t have come at a worse time for Thailand. It had just expanded visa-free entry to 93 countries to revive its tourism industry, a key economic pillar that has yet to fully recover from the pandemic.
Barely a year before, a 14 year old boy shot dead two people at a luxury shopping mall, also in Bangkok.
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin was with police on the scene at the Grand Hyatt on Tuesday night. He said there was no danger to public safety and that it was a private matter.
For the families left behind, the shock is palpable.
BBC Vietnamese got hold of the make-up artist’s mother, Tuy, on the phone, but she was sobbing so uncontrollably that she hung up after a short conversation. She said she thought her son was just on a routine work trip.
His father, Tran Dinh Dung, said in a separate interview that he did not noticed anything strange with his son the last time he saw him.
(BBC)
Usha Vance, the wife of Vice-President JD Vance, has announced she is pregnant with her fourth child.
In a post on X, the second lady said she is looking forward to welcoming a boy in late July.
“Usha and the baby are doing well,” a statement posted on Tuesday to the second lady’s social media account read.
Vance and his wife, Usha, 40, have three young children: Ewan, Vivek and Mirabel.
Usha Vance (née Chilukuri) was born and raised in the working-class suburbs of San Diego, California, to a mechanical engineer father and a molecular biologist mother who had moved to the US from Andhra Pradesh, India.
She met JD Vance as a student at Yale Law School in 2010, when they joined a discussion group on “social decline in white America”.
Before becoming second lady, Usha Vance had a legal career, including a job as a corporate litigator at firm Munger, Tolles & Olson in San Francisco. She also worked for conservative judges, Chief Justice John Roberts on the Supreme Court and appeals court judge Brett Kavanaugh, before he was appointed by Trump to the Supreme Court.
Usha Vance is the first to have a baby as second lady, though other first ladies have had children while their husbands were in office.
First lady Frances Cleveland, wife of President Grover Cleveland, gave birth to daughter Esther in the White House in 1893, followed by a second child, Marion, who was born outside the White House.
JD Vance has been one of the most vocal members of the Trump administration in calling for higher birth rates in the US.
“Let me say very simply: I want more babies in the United States of America,” he said in 2025.
(BBC)
Italian fashion designer Valentino Garavani, known as Valentino, has died at the age of 93.
One of the giants of 20th Century fashion, Valentino’s creations were worn by celebrities and well-known figures including Elizabeth Taylor, Nancy Reagan, Sharon Stone, Julia Roberts and Gwyneth Paltrow.
He co-founded the Valentino fashion house in 1960 and ranked alongside Giorgio Armani and Karl Lagerfeld at the top of the profession.
In a statement posted on Instagram, the Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti Foundation said: “He passed away peacefully in his Roman home, surrounded by the love of his family.”
The foundation said Valentino will be lying in state at Rome’s Piazza Mignanelli between 21 and 22 January.
Valentino’s funeral service will be held the following day at the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels and Martyrs, the foundation said.
Born in Lombardy in May 1932, Valentino was known for his collections that displayed luxury, wealth and opulence.
He moved to Paris to study at the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne when he was just 17, and went on to work with designers Jacques Fath, Balenciaga, Jean Dessès and Guy Laroche.
His adoption of his signature colour “Valentino red”, inspired by a trip to Spain, helped elevate the brand to global fame with the debut of the iconic fiesta dress.
It became so meaningful for the house that for Valentino’s last collection in 2008 all the models wore red dresses for the finale.
Valentino designed the wedding dress of Princess Madeleine of Sweden when she married British-American financier Christopher O’Neill in June 2013.
In December 2023, he was honoured with the outstanding achievement award at the British Fashion Awards which were held at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
(BBC)
At least six people have been killed and about 20 injured when a fire tore through a shopping mall in Karachi, Pakistani officials say, as firefighters try to bring the blaze under control.
The fire broke out on Saturday at the Gul Plaza shopping mall, a densely packed commercial complex, and continued to burn for hours. By early Sunday, authorities said crews had managed to control about 30 percent of the fire.
South Deputy Inspector General Syed Asad Raza told the Dawn newspaper that the death toll had risen from an initial three to five. The Edhi Foundation, a medical complex, later confirmed a sixth death in a statement.
Rescue officials said the mall contains roughly 1,200 shops, raising fears that people could still be trapped inside. The Edhi Foundation said part of the building collapsed due to the intensity of the fire, complicating rescue efforts.
Garden subdivision police officer Mohsin Raza said initial findings suggested the fire started due to a short circuit in one of the shops before rapidly spreading throughout the complex.
He said the exact cause must be determined through a detailed investigation and warned that the structure needs to be secured to prevent further damage.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed condolences over the loss of life.
In a statement carried by PTV, Sharif ordered authorities to take “all possible measures” to protect lives and property, provide assistance to affected traders and ensure medical care for the injured.
Zardari urged the government of Sindh province, whose capital is Karachi, to offer “immediate and every possible assistance” and said: “No stone should be left unturned in providing the best medical facilities to the injured.”
[Aljazeera]
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