Vietnam sends condolences to families of deceased victims in Bangkok hotel

“According to the latest information of the Vietnamese Embassy in Thailand, authorities in Thailand said four of the six deceased were Vietnamese citizens,” spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pham Thu Hang said Wednesday as she responded to inquiries regarding the discovery of the bodies of six people in the Grand Hyatt Erawan hotel in Bangkok on Tuesday.

Hang said the Vietnamese Embassy in Thailand is cooperating with local authorities to follow and investigate the case, a press release by the foreign ministry read. Vietnamese authorities are also verifying the identities of the deceased people, informing their families and deploying necessary citizen protection measures.

“We want to send our deepest condolences to the families of victims,” Hang said.

Thai police on Tuesday discovered the dead bodies of six people: three men and three women, inside a room on the 5th floor of the Grand Hyatt Erawan hotel. Among them, four were Vietnamese and the other two were Americans of Vietnamese descent.

The police said the people died of cyanide poisoning, and the suspect was Sherine Chong, an American of Vietnamese descent. Chong’s body was also found at the scene.

Deputy police chief of Bangkok Noppasin Poolsawat said the case stemmed from business conflicts between Chong and 55-year-old Dang Hung Van, another American of Vietnamese descent, along with a pair of husband and wife also in the group.

The couple had loaned Chong around ฿10 million ($278,000) to invest into a Japanese hospital project. As the project did not progress, the couple suspected that Chong was trying to trick them.

“This is a case stemming from personal conflicts, not trans-border crime,” said Noppasin.