Canadian Sisters Deaths: Probe Finds More Information But No Clues

[webfact]

Belanger Deaths: Probe finds more information but no clues

Phuket Gazette

Sisters Audrey and Noemi Belanger, whose deaths by apparent poisoning on Phi Phi Island last month remain a mystery to investigators. Photo: Facebook.

PHUKET: -- The lack of information publicly released on the deaths of Canadian sisters Audrey and Noemi Belanger on Phi Phi Island last month prompted the sisters’ father, Carl Belanger, to accuse the Thai authorities of covering up the true circumstances of their deaths.

The leading investigators in the case have now refuted the allegation. The Phuket Gazette’s Chaiyot Yongcharoenchai and Orawin Narabal report.

The international media spotlight shone intensely on the deaths of Canadian sisters Audrey and Noemi Belanger on Phi Phi Island last month. Their deaths, by apparent poisoning, were quickly branded as mysterious as local authorities failed to provide the media with quick, convenient and clear identification as to what caused the deaths.

In a decisive move, Krabi Governor Prasit Osathanon named only one police officer, Krabi Provincial Police Commander Jamroon Ruenrom, as the sole official authorized to publicly comment on the case.

Yet, Maj Gen Jamroon handed the responsibility over to one of his deputies: Col Boontawee Toraksa.

The lack of information forthcoming from the Thai authorities gained widespread criticism, and resulted in the sisters’ father, Carl Belanger, accusing the Thai authorities of a cover-up in an interview in the sisters’ home province of Quebec, Canada.

Col Boontawee has refuted the allegation. “The official autopsy results have not been released yet. We are continuing to contact the Forensic Institute of Ramathibodi Hospital in Bangkok for the final results. What we had been informed of were just the unofficial results, which do not include all the details,” he told the Gazette.

Col Boontawee explained that, unlike most autopsies requested by police, this time they did not request for any specific tests to be conducted, “We basically asked them to test for everything.”

“They are now conducting in-depth tests to search for [a] possible cause of death. This will take a long time; I don’t know when the [full] results will be released,” he added.

Col Boontawee explained that, unlike most autopsies requested by police, this time they did not request that any specific tests to be conducted.

“We basically asked them to test for everything,” he said.

DARK HISTORY

The unexplained deaths of Audrey, 20, and Noemi, 26, saw questions resurface from similar deaths on Phi Phi Island in 2009.

Norwegian tourist Erik Liuhagen, 48, died on April 1 after being admitted to hospital with severe diarrhea. He had been staying at a beachfront guesthouse, Phi Phi Villa.

A month later, on May 3, 26-year-old American tourists Ryan Kells and Jill St Onge both became ill and were admitted to Krabi Hospital. The pair had been vomiting for some time before going to the hospital. Ms St Onge died later that day. Mr Kells survived the illness.

According to police, the pair were engaged to be married and had been staying at the Laleena Guesthouse, about 1,500 meters from the room where Mr Liuhagen had lodged.

On May 4, Norwegian Julie Michelle Bergheim – who had also been staying at the Laleena guesthouse, in the room adjacent to Ryan Kells’ and Ms St Onge’s room – died after becoming mysteriously ill with severe vomiting. She died in hospital while talking to police, a short time after being admitted.

Extensive tests failed to provide any conclusive evidence as to what those three tourists died of.

“The unexplained deaths of the Norwegian and American tourists in 2009 were good case studies for us. [in the Belanger case] We followed the exact same procedure that we conducted in 2009,” Col Boontawee said.

He also dismissed rumors that no autopsies were conducted in the 2009 deaths.

“We have autopsies conducted in every single case of an unexplained death. Unfortunately, we didn’t find any underlying causes of the deaths in 2009,” he said.

“In the Belanger case, we collected body tissue, stool samples and vomit samples and submitted them to the Institute of Forensic Medicine at the Police General Hospital in Bangkok.

“But then the Canadian Embassy and [senior] police [officers in Bangkok] requested us to have the autopsies conducted by the Forensic Institute at Ramathibodi Hospital in Bangkok, since they have specialists who are able to conduct tests that cannot be done at any other hospital,” he explained.

“I can’t reveal what specific tests they [the Canadian officials] requested, but I can tell you that the autopsy being conducted is to look for every single detail,” he added.

TRANSPARENCY

Col Boontawee expressed his disappointment over the foreign media who have reported police action in the Belanger case.

“The Canadian media have exaggerated the situation. We have tried our best in order to determine the cause of death. I can’t say much since it may affect the case, but I can say that we are doing our best,” he said.

“We worked as quickly as we possibly could. As soon as we found out about the deaths, we immediately sent the bodies for medical examination... We are not trying to hide anything from anyone. We also want the facts to come out. We are not specialists in all fields, such as public health or environment. That is why we have so many people from other units involved in the investigation."

“All we can do now is to wait for the result to come out; then we can continue with our investigation. We didn’t want any of this to happen. I just want everyone to know that we are trying our best and the way we work is transparent,” Col Boontawee concluded.

THE EXPERTS

Dr Pasakorn Akarasewi, Director of the Bureau of Epidemiology at the Ministry of Public Health’s Department of Disease Control, heads the team called in by police to assist in the investigation.

“We went to inspect the area as per the request from the Krabi Police. The Krabi Police said they had experts for dealing with drug cases and murder investigations, but they had no specialists in public health. That’s why we went down there – to offer some help,” he told the Gazette.

“We cannot cite the actual cause of death to police, but we can provide evidence for police to consider in their investigations," he said.

The public health aspect of the investigation focuses on possible food poisoning, contaminated water or any communicable disease that may have spread on Phi Phi, Dr Pasakorn explained.

“After collecting samples of nearly everything, we came back [to Bangkok] and had those samples examined in the lab. We found nothing unusual in any of the samples we analyzed,” he said.

Dr Pasakorn was also involved in the investigation into the unexplained deaths on Phi Phi in 2009.

“We sent our team from the Bureau of Epidemiology to collect samples just as we did with the Canadian sisters’ case, but the circumstances behind those deaths were considerably different from those in this latest case,” he said.

“In 2009, we received a request from Krabi Police to assist their investigation. They said they suspected that the cause of death may have been food poisoning. But the test results weren’t what they expected, and the police were unable to determine the cause of death,” he explained.

“When we went down to Phi Phi again this year, we also wondered why such apparently similar incidents had happened repeatedly on the same island again. But the results from tests in this latest incident have revealed no connection with public health aspects to the deaths of the two Canadian sisters,” he added.

Dr Passakorn noted that the four deaths at the now-demolished Downtown Inn in Chiang Mai also faltered on the public health front.

“We believe the deaths may have been from the same cause, but we were unable to determine what that cause was,” he said.

As for the Belanger case, he said, “The autopsy results from Forensic Institute of Ramathibodi Hospital will be the main report that the police will use as evidence.

“We have submitted the results of the tests that we have conducted. If they need anything else, they can make another request. But for now, the mission for our part has been completed,” he said.

Source: http://www.phuketgaz...ticle16385.html

-- Phuket Gazette 2012-07-10

[apalink_thailand]

Is Dr. Pornthip on the case? She can solve just about anything and is completely transparent about the results. Hope she is.

[theajarn]

Are those direct quotes from the Colonel? Because he's got excellent English! And the manner in which he spoke was pretty professional and to some extent, reassuring. Unlike the typical "We no find everything" grunt that we're typically given.

Perhaps they are telling the truth after all? The symptoms sound like e. coli http://www.medicinenet.com/e_coli__0157h7/article.htm but surely they've already ruled that out through testing?

[AleG]

“The unexplained deaths of the Norwegian and American tourists in 2009 were good case studies for us. [in the Belanger case] We followed the exact same procedure that we conducted in 2009,” Col Boontawee said.

Not surprising then if, in the end, the "results" are also the same.

[laurentbkk]

I am, of course , not an expert but I find this story a bit strange .... how come in 2012 no one in Thailand is capable to tell the cause of death of those tourists ? Is it a cover up by the authorities who want to tell that coming to Thailand is 100% safe ? are there some other reasons ? The case of those sisters is not unique , remember the strange death in Chiang mai guest house. It does comfort me in avoiding certain kind of cheap guest houses here. I surely can say that we will NEVER know the truth.

[Payboy]

Is Dr. Pornthip on the case? She can solve just about anything and is completely transparent about the results. Hope she is.

Must be because of her magic GT 200.

[blueshark]

Is Dr. Pornthip on the case? She can solve just about anything and is completely transparent about the results. Hope she is.

I bet she could!

But to get transparency on the case (and an actual professional honest answer) whats the big deal about inviting another 3 party country to do the autopsy? Go figure?

Got something to hide? no? well let them do it then.

If the Thai authorities procrastinate like they do with just about everything else then they will piss off all 1st world nations with decent systems.

They need to sort their shit out so bad when it comes to these sorts of things.

<Obscenity deleted>

Edited July 10, 2012 by metisdead

[Ferangled]

....Extensive tests failed to provide any conclusive evidence as to what those three tourists died of.

“The unexplained deaths of the Norwegian and American tourists in 2009 were good case studies for us. [in the Belanger case] We followed the exact same procedure that we conducted in 2009,” Col Boontawee said.

So having failed to gain any conclusive evidence in the 2009 cases, we'll take that as a good basis to follow the exact same procedures?! &lt;deleted&gt;!

[Whidbeyboy]

Are those direct quotes from the Colonel? Because he's got excellent English! And the manner in which he spoke was pretty professional and to some extent, reassuring. Unlike the typical "We no find everything" grunt that we're typically given.

Perhaps they are telling the truth after all? The symptoms sound like e. coli http://www.medicinen...7h7/article.htm but surely they've already ruled that out through testing?

The symptoms sound like a lot of communicable diseases, and most E.coli cases clear up except in the very young and old. Something as obvious as that would have turned up already and more then 2 wold likely show up. The fact that they have not solved any of the cases is disturbing. But maybe I watch to many forensic shows where they solve these things.

[blueshark]

“We believe the deaths may have been from the same cause, but we were unable to determine what that cause was,” he said.

Case and point. God help them..... they have no idea what they are doing or saying.... useless.

[Whidbeyboy]

So having failed to gain any conclusive evidence in the 2009 cases, we'll take that as a good basis to follow the exact same procedures?! &lt;deleted&gt;!

Seriously, almost sound comical, except that people are dying.

[EarthAlien]

Sounds a bit like the Chiangmai Downtown Inn revisited to me!

3 similar deaths arising from stays at Phi Phi Island resorts were not investigated by autopsies,.. Why on earth not?

“The Canadian media have exaggerated the situation." ... more like they just reported the truth!

Words such as "transparency" and "expert" have little meaning IMHO as far as LOS is concerned.

RIP to the victims. I sincerely hope that the [real] truth can be determined for the sake of closure for the grieving family!

[Beetlejuice]

So everything is right back to square one again.

What`s happening with the Canadian investigation?

[BarnicaleBob]

expirence

You will find the evidence leading to the cause of death in the hotel mattresses. The chemical tocin that caused the deaths dissipates when exposed to the environment inside the body. This results in there being little or no trace of the chemical in the bodies.

Starting in 2009, hotels in Thailand started to experience problems with westerners coming to Thailand unknowing carrying bedbugs. The bedbugs soon started to rake havoc in some hotels that primarily catered to westerners and they took measures to eradicate these pests from their hotel mattresses. In most cases a proper chemical was applied and the directions were followed. However, in some cases the hotel employees took extreme measures by over applying the chemicals and did not follow directions such as to take the mattresses outside to air out during and after the application of these chemicals.

The end result was transference of the chemical from the mattresses via contact with the skin of the victims. Even then in most cases when the victims became ill they and left before they had enough exposure to kill them. Often they wrote it off as food poisoning and just moved on.

In these cases in Phi Phi and Chiang Mai, five people survived after being hospitalized and so far as we can now confirm 11 people have died with the possibility of three other deaths from 2009 in other cities that could be related. The information on these deaths can be found with a little time making few Internet searches.

[softgeorge]

Col Boontawee says;

(1) I can’t say much since it may affect the case.

(2) The way we work is transparent.

This guy must have graduated with honours from the University of Spin Doctoring.

Edited July 10, 2012 by softgeorge

[steven100]

There are to many questions unexplained for my liking.

Where are the two Portugues men that were last seen with the two sisters ?

Is Interpol working with them to find these guys as they may provide clues ?

The food poison theory just don't cut it i'm afraid.

This is a typical CYA ( cover your ass ) media statement given by the BiB.

"Thai authorities gained widespread criticism, and resulted in the sisters’ father, Carl Belanger, accusing the Thai authorities of a cover-up in an interview in the sisters’ home province of Quebec, Canada.

Col Boontawee has refuted the allegation."

Are you telling me that after all these deaths you still don't have a clue as to what the cause was for each of them ? I suggest if you don't know what your doing, please tell us so maybe they can get someone who does !

imho.

[softgeorge]

....Extensive tests failed to provide any conclusive evidence as to what those three tourists died of.

“The unexplained deaths of the Norwegian and American tourists in 2009 were good case studies for us. [in the Belanger case] We followed the exact same procedure that we conducted in 2009,” Col Boontawee said.

So having failed to gain any conclusive evidence in the 2009 cases, we'll take that as a good basis to follow the exact same procedures?! &lt;deleted&gt;!

Well if they found nothing conclusive in other investigations, no person/s found to be at fault then why not follow the exact same lines of investigation in all future cases? Yes I agree with you, &lt;deleted&gt; also!

[crazykopite]

Maybe tourist should stop going to the island until all this is resolved I was going to go next month for a change of scenary but sod that all these unexplained deaths over the last 4/5 years with the same symptoms seem very strange. I doubt the full facts will ever come out and my prayers are with all the families who have been involved with these unexplained deaths.

[hellodolly]

I have to agree with the poster who said maybe he had been watching to many forensic shows where they solve these things.

People can be down rite stupid. The show's are written from a death where they all ready knew the causes of a death then they wrote the show to make it look like a mystery.

In Chiang Mai the World Health Organization was involved and they could not come up with a answer. A American lady become sick but managed to get back to Seattle where they have state of the art medical science and they could not say what it was.

But here we are in Thailand mostly expats thinking every thing is a cover up because they did not announce the cause ten minutes after the event.

Grow up people there are people dying all over the world dying from causes that at this point in time medical science can not give a reason from.

And we expect Thailand to be have all the answers. As I said People can be incredibly stupid.

And I don't mean because they don't know they don't know every thing there is to know. I mean because they think they know every thing there is to know.

[Havco]

To be fair, forensic results can take a while weeks into months depending on tests being done! My guess is not many people who comment here have medical training. Sure understand the family wanting answers but let the process work its way thorugh, and no doubt they will keep pressure on in the hope of finding out what did happen. As I hope.

Have lived in Thailand for a few years and receive the updates to thaivisa daily, this is my first comment due I find most of the comments are from people who dont really want to live here or use the fourm to moan! Come on guys we all live here for a reason, or why not go home and live in our fantastic Western countries!

Edited July 10, 2012 by Havco

[Colabamumbai]

We can alll surmise and accuse, but the fact is the girls are dead. Enough said, from a fellow Canadian.

[garyk]

I am curious, do these things just happen to tourists or do the thai people die from the same thing? On a regular basis.

[F1fanatic]

expirence

You will find the evidence leading to the cause of death in the hotel mattresses. The chemical tocin that caused the deaths dissipates when exposed to the environment inside the body. This results in there being little or no trace of the chemical in the bodies.

Starting in 2009, hotels in Thailand started to experience problems with westerners coming to Thailand unknowing carrying bedbugs. The bedbugs soon started to rake havoc in some hotels that primarily catered to westerners and they took measures to eradicate these pests from their hotel mattresses. In most cases a proper chemical was applied and the directions were followed. However, in some cases the hotel employees took extreme measures by over applying the chemicals and did not follow directions such as to take the mattresses outside to air out during and after the application of these chemicals.

The end result was transference of the chemical from the mattresses via contact with the skin of the victims. Even then in most cases when the victims became ill they and left before they had enough exposure to kill them. Often they wrote it off as food poisoning and just moved on.

In these cases in Phi Phi and Chiang Mai, five people survived after being hospitalized and so far as we can now confirm 11 people have died with the possibility of three other deaths from 2009 in other cities that could be related. The information on these deaths can be found with a little time making few Internet searches.

Source please re. Westerners bringing bedbugs to Thailand in 2009.

[hellodolly]

It would help if people would read the article so that they had a half a clue what they are talking about.

The handling of the sisters death's were handled the same way other cases were. Then they were sent for autopsies to look for every thing not just one single item.

That was not done in the other cases. It is a completely different way of handling it. But if you read the article you would lose your chance to bash Thai's so don't read it and bash away.

Flame on.

As for the Canadian Press I doubt it made a ripple. The girls come from Quebeck where they think the world revolves around the French Canadian and in all liklly hood they would have made it a huge deal.

[robertthesculptor]

Where is Holmes when you need him...

seriously this is a sad but interesting case and one that deserves to be followed.

[jomtienbob]

The bottom line here is that the vast majority of the educated Thais learn by rote and live in a feudalistic manner (never questioning the status or statements or thinking of those who are at higher pecking order, whether justified or not) throughout most levels of their thinking and daily lives. These are not however conducive conditions to develop the lateral thinking required for the investigative requirements here and this applies to the forensic and police levels. It's just not within their comfort zones and thus their competence. Yes Dr. Pornthip seems to be one of the exceptions but I hear that a lot of that is media hype overdoing what are Straight forward cases in technical reality. I surely doubt she would even touch a truly difficult set of cases like this otherwise she would have done so much earlier. There are obviously several technical aspects to all these cases that the people involved with have never encountered nor have any knowledge about. Just that in itself will guarantee that none of the Thais would EVER admit that there is something we don't know or has them stumped. Don't expect anything different from past performances. Unfortunately.

[coma]

Somebody help me !!! Is it just me or is this the most ridiculous statement and course of action to take?

“The unexplained deaths of the Norwegian and American tourists in 2009 were good case studies for us. [in the Belanger case] We followed the exact same procedure that we conducted in 2009,” Col Boontawee said.

These previous deaths were left unsolved and unexplained yet Col Boontawee states that they "were good case studies for us". And that therefore " we followed the exact same procedure" [in the Belanger case].

If one doesn't get to the bottom of previous cases by using a particular procedure then how is that "good" ? And why would one be content in using the same procedure for this present or any future cases if it has already proven to be ineffective in determining the cause of numerous deaths. This guy is a comedian. Forget the cover up theories ladies and gentlemen cuz this guy wouldn't have the aptitude to do so.

Ending on a possible positive is that they are still waiting on results. I thought that they had closed the case already.

[nontabury]

To be fair, forensic results can take a while weeks into months depending on tests being done! My guess is not many people who comment here have medical training. Sure understand the family wanting answers but let the process work its way thorugh, and no doubt they will keep pressure on in the hope of finding out what did happen. As I hope.

Have lived in Thailand for a few years and receive the updates to thaivisa daily, this is my first comment due I find most of the comments are from people who dont really want to live here or use the fourm to moan! Come on guys we all live here for a reason, or why not go home and live in our fantastic Western countries!

You have only been a member for less than one hour, and you carried out just two views. STRANGE

[pacovl46]

They should check for Laburnum. All parts of the plant are poisonous and it's notoriously hard to detect, if I remember correctly. An acute poisoning can be lethal and cause vomiting and severe diarrhea. There's two species in that family, but both are native to Europe. There's a third species, the one in Asia, that some people count to the Laburnum family, others don't. It is poisonous, too, and it's quite common in Asia and goes by the common names "Golden Shower" or "Golden-Chain Tree".

Edited July 10, 2012 by pacovl46

[laurentbkk]

To be fair, forensic results can take a while weeks into months depending on tests being done! My guess is not many people who comment here have medical training. Sure understand the family wanting answers but let the process work its way thorugh, and no doubt they will keep pressure on in the hope of finding out what did happen. As I hope.

Have lived in Thailand for a few years and receive the updates to thaivisa daily, this is my first comment due I find most of the comments are from people who dont really want to live here or use the fourm to moan! Come on guys we all live here for a reason, or why not go home and live in our fantastic Western countries!

always the same ..... some farang who wants to be more Thais than Thai themselves. Thailand is not worse or better than other countries for sure, maybe you have not lived here long enough to have a common judgement. oh and not everybody here are from Western countries.