New Zealand Girl Dies Of Food Poisoning In Chiang Mai

[Atmos]

NZ woman dies after Thai food poisoning

08/02/2011

A Wellington woman's overseas holiday with girlfriends has ended in tragedy, after she died from eating toxic seaweed while in Thailand on Waitangi Day.

Sarah Katherine Carter's devastated father today paid tribute to his 23-year-old daughter, saying ''she touched the hearts of everyone she knew''.

Sarah and her two female friends were taken ill after eating at a food market in Chiang Mai, on Friday.

The trio were taken to hospital with food poisoning, but Sarah and one other friend were particularly badly hit.

Richard Carter said he and his wife, Anne, got a call from the Chang Mai Ram Hospital on Friday, saying their daughter was ill.

''We spoke with her about 10pm that night and it appeared to be just bad food poisoning. She appeared withdrawn and not sounding that good but seemed all right.

''And we just said, oh yeah, 'well have a good night's sleep and you should be fine in the morning, you should be all clear'.

''But within an hour of our conversation the thing just spread to her heart and strangled her heart.''

Mr Carter said Sarah's heart was functioning at only 10 per cent ability but she struggled on and survived the night.

The next morning her mother flew out to be with their daughter.

''I managed to get a few calls to Sarah in the meantime but she had all this stuff down her throat and she couldn't talk to me.

''She passed away that night, 3.30am Thailand time on Sunday.''

Carter said his wife was in transit at Bangkok Airport when Sarah died and he had to call and tell her the news.

''It's horrible. It's pretty tough, we're struggling through it.

''You have to accept it the best we can, but it's not easy.''

The Carters were expecting their daughter's body to be returned home on Friday and funeral services were being planned in Auckland and Wellington.

[Atmos]

a tragedy for all concerned; a report from the New Zealand Herald gives some further info:

*****************

NZer dies of suspected food poisoning in Thailand

A New Zealand woman on holiday in Thailand has died and her two companions are seriously ill after contracting what is thought to be food poisoning.

Sarah Katherine Carter, 23, died at Chiang Mai Ram Hospital, in northern Thailand, on Sunday morning from a food-related illness, according to an online memorial website.

An Aucklander, she had studied at Victoria University and had been working at Wellington accounting firm BDO Spicers in the past year.

She died from eating toxic seaweed while in Thailand, after eating at a food market on Friday. Her two women friends were in hospital.

Ms Carter's devastated father today paid tribute to her, telling stuff.co.nz "she touched the hearts of everyone she knew".

The hospital had called when she was admitted and he had talked to her, he said.

"It appeared to be just bad food poisoning. She appeared withdrawn and not sounding that good, but seemed all right. But within an hour of our conversation the thing just spread to her heart and strangled her heart."

His wife was in transit at Bangkok Airport when his daughter died, and he had to call her with the awful news.

Funeral services were being planned in Auckland and Wellington.

Mr Carter said his daughter, the eldest of three children, was a "very lovely girl".

A Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman said her friends were being treated in a hospital.

One Amanda Eliason, 24, was in intensive care recovering from emergency heart surgery, Radio New Zealand reported.

Her grandmother Val Eliason said the trio had been travelling in Vietnam and Thailand.

Ms Eliason's condition was improving, she said.

The New Zealand embassy in Bangkok was in contact with the families of the trio, who had travelled to Thailand.

[uptheos]

So sad, so young - RIP beautiful one.

[venturalaw]

Which food market is responsible?

[Thaihog]

Tragic loss...

Makes you wonder why more people don't get food poisoning when you see the standard of cleanliness at these market stalls...

RIP, and I hope that her friends make a full recovery. :jap:

[gotlost]

There are no words to express ones sorry. RIP

[Ta22]

am sorry to heard this , but what make me ponder is .

if it at a Market place why Only 3 of them ?

if that stall is selling on a daily basis to everyone . then i a, assuming there would be a outbreak . already , cos a market stall do cater to the Mass .

is this related to the recently story of someone die or suffer badly from some sushi eating in chiangmai ?

"toxic seaweed " hm.. not alot of dishes in Thai use Seaweed . and most thai who use it had been using it for ages . on a few stardard dishes .

anyone have more info on this ?

-

Having more info would SAVE life .

[caf]

RIP Sarah

[caf]

Which food market is responsible?

Yes would be nice to know. But you can't name and shame here regrettably

[ThaiPauly]

A tragic Tale.

RIP sweet one.

So sorry for the family as well.

I really hope the police can track down the source...but then what?

[venturalaw]

A tragic Tale.

RIP sweet one.

So sorry for the family as well.

I really hope the police can track down the source...but then what?

Publish the name (or location if no name) so that we have knowledge. When death occurs which can be directly linked to a specific eatery, location, then is it not best to protect the potential victims?

[ThaiPauly]

A tragic Tale.

RIP sweet one.

So sorry for the family as well.

I really hope the police can track down the source...but then what?

Publish the name (or location if no name) so that we have knowledge. When death occurs which can be directly linked to a specific eatery, location, then is it not best to protect the potential victims?

Could not agree with you more, so lets hope the police bring a prosecution

[Greenside]

Which food market is responsible?

Yes would be nice to know. But you can't name and shame here regrettably

I don't think "Name & Shame" is on the cards. It would be useful to at least have more details - which (part of ) what market, the food concerned for example. As mentioned above, not that many dishes with seaweed that come to mind.

Even in the best regulated environments things like this can happen - that it was limited to three serious cases suggest a tragic accident of some kind and one where investigation into the cause with a view to improving safety is surely more appropriate than cracking down on some poor market vendor who, if they even know it was down to them, is probably mortified. If you make your living selling food then you do your best not to harm your customers.

Heartfelt sympathy to the family and friends of the victim.

[cmsally]

RIP

Is any of this in the local or national newspapers??

Someone should be preparing a report about what caused it. Even if they don't release the name of the restaurant there should be a release as to what caused it and why.

NB I avoid any kind of shellfish, sea stuff etc here. My husband got really bad food poisoning from shellfish last year. Scary stuff.

[caf]

A tragic Tale.

RIP sweet one.

So sorry for the family as well.

I really hope the police can track down the source...but then what?

Publish the name (or location if no name) so that we have knowledge. When death occurs which can be directly linked to a specific eatery, location, then is it not best to protect the potential victims?

OK and agreed, venturalaw, publish and be damned. we seem to have a mod on our side

[Atmos]

cmsally - I couldn't find reference to it in a Thai newspaper; but how news travels, I was sent the news from my brother in China.

Sounds very serious for the other young woman too, emergency heart surgery, a terrible time for all the families.

Have no idea about 'toxic seaweed' and its use in cooking - can only think they had a shared dish prepared for just these three to have been effected.

A real tragedy.

[cmsally]

Maybe a quick call to Chiang Mai Ram to ask them who is giving a statement about details.

Then there is some food and health thingy that gives out certificates to say the restaurant/food stall is sanitary etc. Are they affiliated with the Tesabahn??

[WinnieTheKhwai]

As tragic as this is, I would not assume that the cause is as stated in a newspaper article. "Toxic seaweed"... that is just strange. At this point the article causes way more questions than answers, in addition of course to the one sad fact that a beautiful young girl ended up dead. It's the seaweed part that I'm not buying into; this is Chiang Mai, seaweed arrives dried from wholesalers, it's about as likely to cause food poisoning as bean sprouts.

[cmsally]

The only article I could find was one about fish eating toxic seaweed and the fish becoming toxic. I think I'll be avoiding sea fish, thank you. I agree the seaweed theory seems unlikely.

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

a lot of products are made with seaweed like MSG, carrageenan and alginate. It might have just been a small ingredient in a larger dish.

MSG is a flavor enhancer originally made from fermented Kombu

Alginates are commonly used for texture and stabilization. Often made from brown kelp.

Carrageenan is a used as a thickener in many soups

There are a lot of other seaweed ingredients in common foods.

It's kind of amazing how clueless people can be about what is in the foods they eat.

[mystwoodcol]

Let us not let this tragic accident get the usual oh well its Thailand treatment.

My thoughts and prayers are with family & friends.

[cloudhopper]

It's kind of amazing how clueless people can be about what is in the foods they eat.

I don't find it amazing at all. Without submitting everything I buy in a market and especially a restaurant to an analytical lab for analysis I remain largely ignorant of any adulterants or toxins that might be present.

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

It's kind of amazing how clueless people can be about what is in the foods they eat.

I don't find it amazing at all. Without submitting everything I buy in a market and especially a restaurant to an analytical lab for analysis I remain largely ignorant of any adulterants or toxins that might be present.

well I suppose you could look at a list of ingredients and uh google it.

[MESmith]

Could the "food market" in the original post, mean "food centre", as in those coupon places in supermarkets & malls? Don't some of those serve sushi?

[cmsally]

I thought MSG was derived from cassava starch?? I think it was originally from seaweed but no longer produced that way.

Meanwhile here we are throwing around these theories and hypotheses and not a word from the local press!

[bangkokcitylimits]

<b><font face="Verdana">Exact location and photo of the food stall and vendor please ! (as well as a photo of the food)</font></b><br><br><font face="Verdana">How many locals also died ?</font><br>

[surayu]

It's very sad to read this kind of news, then not a single word on the local press like if foreigners aren't worth to be mentioned sometimes, let alone the professionalism (very likely) being followed to find the reason of the death, i hope the family/friends of the deceased will make sure to "reconfirm" in NZ what actually killed these very unlucky travellers, RIP.

[trainman34014]

Heartfelt sympathy for the bereaved family involved and our thoughts go out to relatives of the other two girls who will hopefully recover soon.

Those of us who live here face these risks every day in a country where standards of cleanliness in Markets and many Restaurants leave a great deal to be desired. I am indebted to my Thai wife who seems to know exactly which foods to avoid in Markets and even Supermarkets and we rarely eat foods cooked in such places. There but for the grace of God go we.

[LJW]

We have a report of eating poisoned seaweed, probably from the girl...

It could have been anything from anywhere.

Buyer Beware.

[supaprik]

shocking...R.I.P Kiwi girl