Scot left stranded on Thai island after her friends ‘poisoned’

By Ben Archibald

Samantha Kay is stranded in Thailand after her passport was confiscated

PHI PHI ISLAND: -- A SCOTTISH teaching assistant has told of being stranded in a resort in Thailand where two of her friends were found dead from suspected poisoning.

Samantha Kay, 24, said she is stuck on a Thai island because medical staff who treated her have confiscated her passport.

Ms Kay, of Dundee, fell ill shortly before sisters Audrey, 20 and Noemi Belanger, 26, were found dead in their hotel room in Phi Phi Island last Friday.

The Scot spent three days in hospital being treated for suspected food poisoning but despite discharging her, hospital executives kept her passport.

Last night, she told how the hospital refuses to return it until she pays her £400 medical bill.

Speaking from the tourist resort, Ms Kay said: “I was really ill. Food poisoning has been spoken about but it was dehydration as well. It could have been bacteria or a virus or something.

“The hospital kept my passport because the insurance company wouldn’t pay up-front for my treatment. I can’t leave here until my dad pays the £400. I’m sure I’ll get it back from the insurance, but what if I didn’t have my dad? I’d be stuck here.”

Ms Kay said she met the Canadian sisters, from Quebec, when she was promoting restaurants and bars on the island.

The sisters were both found dead by a cleaning lady at the Phi Phi Palms Hotel on Friday.

Ms Kay said investigators found evidence of vomit in the hotel room and told how the sisters had skin lesions, bleeding gums and blue fingernails, which can be symptoms of poisoning.

She said: “The girls were lovely. I chatted to them and we ended up dancing at the club. I don’t know what’s happened, they’re saying they were poisoned.

“Some people said it might have been a gas leak at the hotel, other people said it could have been fumes from cleaning fluid they use in the flats.”

Phi Phi police say it is too early to determine how the sisters died but ruled out foul play.

They confirmed the hotel room where the sisters were found had not been broken into and was locked from the inside.

The Scottish teaching assistant’s father, Dudley Kay, 65, who runs a Dundee guesthouse, said: “She thought it was a good medical and travel insurance policy but we have found out the small print says she is not insured if she travels for longer than 90 days, which she has.

“Sami is scared now because of the deaths. She just wants to get out. She really wants our help, but it’s hard for me to do much all the way back in Dundee.”

Mr Kay said he had paid his daughter’s bill but she will not receive her passport back until the money has cleared, which is likely to be later this week.

Three years ago on Phi Phi, two women, an American and a Norwegian, were found poisoned in their adjoining rooms. The deaths are still unsolved.

Full story: http://www.scotsman....soned-1-2363027

-- scotsman.com 2012-06-20

More dead and case still unsolved ...... and you want the death of those 2 girls being solve as well ? Like every other "accidents" they will be forgotten in some police desk. You never know , it could bring a bad image for the Thailand tourism. it seems now it can be dangerous to spend holidays in Thailand.

Let'snot kid ourselves. Thailand is a very dangerous place.

Edited June 20, 201214 yr by BeforeTigers

confiscated passport???

only immigration or police can do that,except in thailand of coarse.

Edited June 20, 201214 yr by uranuss

I have heard that the two Canadian girls bodies are to be taken to Bangkok for autopsie if this is true I believe the truth may never come out . My prayers are with the family and I hope the young scottish girl can get her passport back so that she can move on.

I have heard that the two Canadian girls bodies are to be taken to Bangkok for autopsie if this is true I believe the truth may never come out . My prayers are with the family and I hope the young scottish girl can get her passport back so that she can move on.

If they went to the Police hospital then it would be an open and shut case, however the parents have asked the bodies to be sent to another hospital.

Did the young Scot have a WP for promoting bars? (tongue in cheek)

Anyhow, lessons to be learned, never hand your passport to anyone other than the Immigration officer when you arrive or leave, or a policeman for ID (best to give a copy though).

Being sick is not a good excuse for NOT paying your hospital bill.

Young, inexperienced, people seem to believe whatever they are told by self appointed authorities as they travel. A copy of passport is all any private business concern is due. Seems some hospitals, hotels, etc operate and have the same immunity from the Thai authorities as the jet ski scammers.

Glad to see the young lady has recovered, best she return home as by her own admission, she could be in trouble with immigration, if she was working.

confiscated passport???

only immigration or police can do that,except in thailand of coarse.

The Scottish teaching assistant’s father, Dudley Kay, 65, who runs a Dundee guesthouse, said: “She thought it was a good medical and travel insurance policy but we have found out the small print says she is not insured if she travels for longer than 90 days, which she has.

The "small print" says......bla.bla.bla.. wouldn't you know how long your insurance is good? Is Nessy still in Loch Ness?.......

Some tourists are even stupid enough to leave their passport when hiring a motorbike. The hospital didn't confiscate it, just "holding" it for her....

Being sick is not a good excuse for NOT paying your hospital bill.

No kidding. 400 quid sounds reasonable for a 3 night stay at the hospital. She doesn't have a credit card? She didn't plan for financial emergencies on a 90+ day trip? My health insurance requires me to pay upfront and they reimburse me when I get home.

Anyways, I hope the girl is able to provide the police some information to help with the investigation of the two sisters that died. R.I.P.

I am confused, does this girl not suspect her illness was connected to the other girls deaths?

I wish we had more info on when she got sick and what the three girls consumed together. Clearly the Scottish girl does no know what she had, but she would have a lot of important information. Maybe there will be another interview with a paper that is more concerned about the case then they are about a glitch in a girls travel plans.

Her father stated on "Newspaperthatcannotbenameddotcom) that his daughter's insurance was only valid for 90 days and that she had gone past the expiry date of the insurance.

It also stated that she was en route to Australia, what with no money?.. she was awaiting funds from her father in Scotland! How can she survive in Australia , taking into fact she could be on on a young persons working visa. she would still need funds to commence with.

On entering a Thai hospital I have had the standard request for my passport which has been duly photocopied and then given back but of course I had reserve monies to pay the hospital bill beforehand.

Anyway she made it onto the media!

Young, inexperienced, people seem to believe whatever they are told by self appointed authorities as they travel. A copy of passport is all any private business concern is due. Seems some hospitals, hotels, etc operate and have the same immunity from the Thai authorities as the jet ski scammers.

Glad to see the young lady has recovered, best she return home as by her own admission, she could be in trouble with immigration, if she was working.

Young, inexperienced, people seem to believe whatever they are told by self appointed authorities as they travel. A copy of passport is all any private business concern is due. Seems some hospitals, hotels, etc operate and have the same immunity from the Thai authorities as the jet ski scammers.

Glad to see the young lady has recovered, best she return home as by her own admission, she could be in trouble with immigration, if she was working.

Young, inexperienced, people seem to believe whatever they are told by self appointed authorities as they travel. A copy of passport is all any private business concern is due. Seems some hospitals, hotels, etc operate and have the same immunity from the Thai authorities as the jet ski scammers.

Glad to see the young lady has recovered, best she return home as by her own admission, she could be in trouble with immigration, if she was working.

Ms Kay said she met the Canadian sisters, from Quebec, when she was promoting restaurants and bars on the island.

​A work permit to promote bars and restaurants......

Being sick is not a good excuse for NOT paying your hospital bill.

No kidding. 400 quid sounds reasonable for a 3 night stay at the hospital. She doesn't have a credit card? She didn't plan for financial emergencies on a 90+ day trip? My health insurance requires me to pay upfront and they reimburse me when I get home.

Anyways, I hope the girl is able to provide the police some information to help with the investigation of the two sisters that died. R.I.P.

Almost certainly no money, that's why she's doing bar promotion work.

And very naive as well.

Young, inexperienced, people seem to believe whatever they are told by self appointed authorities as they travel. A copy of passport is all any private business concern is due. Seems some hospitals, hotels, etc operate and have the same immunity from the Thai authorities as the jet ski scammers.

Glad to see the young lady has recovered, best she return home as by her own admission, she could be in trouble with immigration, if she was working.

Ms Kay said she met the Canadian sisters, from Quebec, when she was promoting restaurants and bars on the island.

​A work permit to promote bars and restaurants......

Exactly my thought. Also, this news is highly sensationalistic, what do they mean by stranded when she was working here for more than 90 days?

if you watch BBC World these days all you see is continual advertising of Thailand tourism

which must be costing the Thai government a lot of money.

and yet this kind of deplorable public relations is more than undoing all that.

I really think that tourism Minister needs to become a lot more proactive and hands-on

in dealing with these kinds of issues because slowly but surely it's drip drip drip

-sowing a lot of negative seeds in the minds of potential tourists

Edited June 20, 201214 yr by Asiantravel

Can only mirror what other posters have said. The only people with the authority to take your passport are the police and immigration. The whole motorbike scam works on the principle that once they have your passport, the operators know you must pay their 'repair fee' to get it back and you have little other option.

Simple lesson - don't give up your passport to anyone

Can only mirror what other posters have said. The only people with the authority to take your passport are the police and immigration. The whole motorbike scam works on the principle that once they have your passport, the operators know you must pay their 'repair fee' to get it back and you have little other option.

Simple lesson - don't give up your passport to anyone

that's all very well for you to say that but you hand over your passport

everytime you register in a hotel to be photocopied? Maybe the hospital gave her the impression

they were just going to take a photocopy like they do in hotels.

If the poor girl wasn't feeling well there wouldn't have been much she could do

physically if they said they would keep its secure for her?

Edited June 20, 201214 yr by Asiantravel

Phi Phi police say it is too early to determine how the sisters died but ruled out foul play.

What a joke. Can't determine how they died, but it wasn't foul play. Unreal.

Phi Phi police say it is too early to determine how the sisters died but ruled out foul play.

What a joke. Can't determine how they died, but it wasn't foul play. Unreal.

I was just thinking yesterday we never seem to hear about these kinds of stories

happening in Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia etc?

How come these mysterious deaths including the ones in Chiang Mai

last year only seem to happen in this country?

Is it only me that doesn't have a problem with a business requesting and holding the one thing that will ensure you pay your bill???

Would she have preferred that they didn't start treating her until she called daddy dearest and cleared the 400pound...

Now - the investigation or lack there of, with respect to the deaths is a different story all together... striking similarity to the Downtown Inn in Chiang Mai that was originally put down to food poisoning, and would have stayed that way if one of the victims Aussie fathers didn't pull out all stops to ensure a proper investigation...

So here we have a person who might be the key to figuring out what exactly they were all poisoned with. HMMMM... what shall we do next?

Will I be sued if I insinuate that the hospital may be behind all of this? I dunno.. get a few backpackers/foreigners sick, confiscate their passports (even though they have no right to)... DEMAND payment for bills...

Let'snot kid ourselves. Thailand is a very dangerous place.

ill second that

if you watch BBC World these days all you see is continual advertising of Thailand tourism

which must be costing the Thai government a lot of money.

and yet this kind of deplorable public relations is more than undoing all that.

I really think that tourism Minister needs to become a lot more proactive and hands-on

in dealing with these kinds of issues because slowly but surely it's drip drip drip

-sowing a lot of negative seeds in the minds of potential tourists

When a very rich (powerful) Thai national figures out a way to make money off hospital statistics we will see a sudden concern.

At my age not much scares me so this news does not change my plans.

What's the saying? "Ignorance Is Bless"

Ms Kay said she met the Canadian sisters, from Quebec, when she was promoting restaurants and bars on the island.

Which means Ms Kay is a young & pretty thing hired to look young & pretty around the restaurants and bars during her pass-thru of Phi Phi Island....sounds similar to the female models at car shows.

"Ms Kay said she met the Canadian sisters, from Quebec, when she was promoting restaurants and bars on the island.

Maybe immigration has got her passport and she is waiting to be charged for working without a work permit?

This article makes no sense. It sounds like this girl just met the Canadian girls at some point. It doesn't sound like she was really connected with them at all. She was a fool to be involved in bar promotion work in Phi Phi; as another poster said, clearly she had no money and no sense. It sounds like the whole Phi Phi operation is looking for people to help them deflect any blame or concern regarding the incredibly suspicious deaths of the two young Canadian girls. They found a good stool pigeon. By the way, how did Ms. Kay ever let them get their hands on her passport? I never go the hospital with anything but my driver's license. It's worked everytime.

Maybe it's time for an investigation by the Thai Health Authority into all the restaurants on Phi Phi, in fact maybe it time for them to start setting some standards and enforcing some food hygene regulations/inpections

When all this is over and we've heard "all" the people that have fallen Ill on Phi Phi come forward -it's going to be a very very quiet place

Must admit I'd be worried myself going there as it seems the only places you can eat are the local restaurants - little or no other choice, love to see the hospital records of how many falangs they treat and rip off due to food poisoning, is there maybe a tidy little scam going on there ????

Also she shouldn't have had to pay a penny - the restaurant that made her sick should be paying

Edited June 20, 201214 yr by smedly

Now there appear to be three people in one targeted group who had similar athough different levels of poisoning, in addition to the multiple unsolved poisonings of previous years, if I had the fluency and the resources I would be very interested to research the local area reports of unsolved fatalities among local Thais. It appears to me as several other people have already suggested too, that a serial-killer who uses pesticide or similar mixed into drinks, might be on the island. I find this possibility believable and very worrying if its being covered up for whatever reason, if the killer is related to somebody important locally, or if it just to try and minimise harm to tourism by denying there is a problem at all. That latter case seems unlikely to me as the harm is already done and only gets worse when the internet-literate westerners read all these official nonstatements.

Edited June 20, 201214 yr by Yunla

Here's an idea...pay you bill.

If the hospital didn't have leverage, you can read between the lines that she has no money to pay and would likely do a runner.

It's idiots like this that force hospitals to make decisions like this.