Bangkok: An investigation into the mysterious deaths of five foreign tourists in hotels in northern Thailand suggests a link to toxic chemical exposure but has failed to determine exactly what killed them, according to a government website yesterday.
The victims were tourists from New Zealand, France, the United States, and Britain. A Thai tour guide also died, and three tourists also fell ill. No one has been declared responsible in the spate of deaths, which came in January and February.
"The specific agents that caused the deaths and illnesses in these events cannot be identified, and it cannot be determined exactly how people were exposed to them," the Department of Disease Control said on its website yesterday.
The results were most revealing concerning a 23-year-old New Zealand woman who died on February 6, her two female companions who got sick but recovered, and a 47-year-old Thai woman who died on February 3.
The four are "most likely to have the same cause of illness, probably exposure to some toxic chemical, pesticides or gas," the report states.
