Cause of Canadian sisters' deaths still not known but contaminated food not ruled out
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Public Health officials were dispatched to Phi Phi Island on Monday to cooperate with local officials in investigating the possible cause of death of the Canadian sisters who were found dead in their hotel room last week.
Public Health Minister Witthaya Buranasiri said officials from the Epidemiology and Occupational and Environmental Diseases Bureaux were assigned to survey environmental conditions for possible contamination in order to identify the possible cause of the deaths, so that local people and foreign countries would have fewer concerns.
The bodies of Audrey and Noemi Belanger, aged 20 and 26, from Quebec province, were found Friday by hotel staff on Phi Phi island in Krabi province.
Dr Pornthep Siriwanarangsan, director general of Disease Control Department said the initial investigation in the room found a large quantity of vomits and faeces. There was evidence of bleeding and their nails had turned black, probably caused by internal bleeding.
“We planned to send the bodies for post mortem at the Surat Thani Hospital because Krabi Hospital has no forensic doctor. However, so far we have been unable to move them because their relatives and the Canadian Embassy representative who came to Krabi did not allow us to do so,” the director said.
Meanwhile Pol Col Wissawa Sanehha of Phi Phi sub police station said the initial police investigation had found that the sisters had visited a bar on the island that night before having a meal at a restaurant along the beach.
Dr Komkrit Phukrittayakami, director of Krabi Hospital said that from the condition of the bodies, it was likely that death had been caused by contaminated food but that an autopsy would be required to discover whether this was seafood, mushrooms or chemical substances.
Wiyada Srirangkul, director of Tourism Authority of Thailand’s Krabi office, said tourism in the province had no yet been affected by the incident because the cause of death was still not known.
However, if it were found that they had died because of contaminated food, the image of the area would inevitably be affected.
