Thailand acts to make hotels safer following five tourist deaths
Thailand is taking steps to ensure the safety of foreign visitors six months after five holidaymakers – including two Britons – died of possible poisoning in the popular northern resort of Chiang Mai.
The five died between January and February after staying in the Downtown Inn in Chiang Mai, Thailand's second biggest city and a gateway for trips to the Golden Triangle.
Initially the hotel claimed the deaths were coincidental, then a police report claimed they had probably eaten toxic seaweed bought from a market stall, but it is now believed they were most likely killed by unidentified toxic chemicals or pesticides.
A five-month investigation led by the Thai authorities with cooperation from the World Health Organisation and the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention was largely inconclusive but found no evidence of criminal cause.
Three cases were attributed to exposure to chemicals, pesticides or gas, but there was no cause of death found for an elderly British couple, George and Eileen Everitt.
Fears that some Thai hotels could be using unsafe chemicals emerged two years ago when American Jill St Onge and Norwegian Julie Bergheim died at a different resort.
Their symptoms – severe chest pain, vomiting and fainting – were almost identical to the tourists who died in Chiang Mai.
Thailand's Department of Disease Control said this week that the use of chemicals and pesticides in hotels would be monitored in Chiang Mai and other Thai resorts. It will also inspect markets and street food vendors in these areas, provide health and safety training by local authorities and review investigation procedures.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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