Phuket: Mystery Over Russian Girl's Death

[george]

Mystery over Russian girl's death

CHERNG TALAY: Mystery surrounds the death of a 10-year-old Russian girl vacationing with her family at the five-star Dusit Laguna Resort Hotel.

Police said they suspected the girl might have been electrocuted, but a senior Dusit manager rejected this theory, saying the hotel was awaiting the conclusions of doctors who were examining the body.

The girl, named by police as Ksenia Drashinskiy, had been swimming in the pool yesterday morning when she clambered out and collapsed nearby, witnesses told police.

“We’ve checked and there’s no electrical problem so the swimming pool hasn’t been closed,” said Chatree Chuensuksinsap, Executive Assistant Manager at the resort.

He said that investigations were proceeding slowly because the girl’s parents, who were still at the resort, could not speak English. It was not known whether Ksenia had a medical condition that may have contributed to her death.

Based on the comments of a bystander who touched the girl soon after she had left the water, Pol Maj Siriwat Inyim, Inspector of Investigation at Cherng Talay Police Station, said he believed that an electric shock may have been responsible.

But the resort’s K. Chatree said, “I can’t offer conclusions about this matter because we are waiting for the [Dusit] legal department to come here.

“It happened about 10 am. She [the victim] went out to swim but nobody saw how it happened at the scene so we don’t know know the real cause.

“The girl was swimming with other children, who saw her lying beside the swimming pool. They thought she was kidding. But then people discovered that she was unconscious and had a weak pulse. They asked the staff to help take her to see the doctor,” K Chatree added.

The girl was initially treated at a nearby clinic and then sent to Thalang Hospital and then to the Bangkok Phuket Hospital. She is thought to have died on the way.

The police investigation began at noon and continued until midnight last night. Officers returned to the resort today to try to speak with the girl’s parents and representatives from the Russian Consulate.

Ksenia’s body is to be examined by the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Bangkok to establish definitively the cause of death.

--Phuket Gazette 2004-01-13