South African job ends in mystery poisoning of Thai woman

[webfact]

JOB OVERSEAS
South African job ends in mystery poisoning
Pongphon Sarnsamak
The Nation



BANGKOK: -- A THAI masseuse working in South Africa has died under suspicious circumstances after eating mushrooms - and her husband has serious questions about her death.

The body was sent back to Thailand for an autopsy here last Friday.

Husband Sanmuang, not his real name, does not believe consuming mushrooms was the real cause behind his wife's death. He said she often ate mushrooms and never before had any severe symptoms from eating them while staying in South Africa.

It should have been a happy day for Sanmuang to welcome his wife, Srichan (not her real name), back from South Africa after she'd been away for three months.

But last Friday he was faced with the sad task of taking his wife's body from Suvarnabhumi to the Central Institute of Forensic Science Thailand to find the real cause of her death.

"She always ate mushrooms, like other female masseurs, while staying in South Africa and no one developed any serious illness," Sanmuang said.

"She told me that she and her friends collected the mushrooms from the garden behind the house for cooking," he added.

According to Sanmuang, Srichan went to work in South Africa as a masseuse last October. She had applied to a local recruitment company certified by the Labour Ministry.

She knew of this company from an Internet search. The company told her it would take care of all travelling expenses and other costs in South Africa.

The company told her she would get Bt30,000 as monthly wages plus 10 per cent commission and tips. But in fact she was paid only Bt16,000 a month and had to work as a masseur to pay off a debt of about Bt80,000.

"Srichan was a straightforward person [and] she complained to me about the influence of her boss. She said she'd been lured into the job by offering a high salary," he said.

Srichan was expected to arrive back in Thailand by the middle of January. Before she died, Sanmuang said she told him she had repaid all her debt back to the company and was so happy to return home and see her three kids.

But Sanmuang received a phone call from the company in South Africa on December 29 telling him that his wife had died from eating mushrooms.

Sanmuang received another call last month from a person who claimed she worked for the company in South Africa and tried to persuade him to allow the company to manage the cremation of his wife's body. It offered to return her remains back to Thailand. The death of Srichan is now being investigated by South African officials.

At the same time, a Thai forensic team is now performing the autopsy.The result of the study is expected to be released in the next three weeks. Srichan's body will today be cremated in a funeral ceremony in her hometown. Her husband hopes this will be the last case of an overseas-based worker ending so tragically.


-- The Nation 2014-02-06

[mamypoko]

Only a handful of paragraphs and the only thing I can come up with is it's a sad day for her family. RIP

[chooka]

Was an autopsy conducted in Sth Africa, I would assume so and what have the Sth African authorities got to say?

[cardinalblue]

This article is so badly grammatically written that one can't even speculate potential causes....

[noitom]

Sad that this guy lost his wife. A Thai "masseuse" and a masseur - a little confusing, and Thai woman should know now that these offers and jobs more often than not amount to prostitution and human trafficking. The fact that it is a South African situation seems to motivate the newspaper to make it a key story. They should see the South African death certificate and official papers and not just cremate the body. A Thai pathologist should take a look. Afraid it won't be the last story of a Thai "masseuse" falling in harm's way while on one of these brokered work offers overseas and promises of high salaries and "tips."

[Soutpeel]

Was an autopsy conducted in Sth Africa, I would assume so and what have the Sth African authorities got to say?

As bad as the SA police are, they do follow accepted protocols in situations such as this, and one of basic protocols would be an autopsy before releasing the remains

[Soutpeel]

Was an autopsy conducted in Sth Africa, I would assume so and what have the Sth African authorities got to say?

As bad as the SA police are, they do follow accepted protocols in situations such as this, and one of basic protocols would be an autopsy before releasing the remains, the other thing to consider as regards the South African company mentioned how much would you like to bet the company is owned and run by a thai national ?

[chooka]

Was an autopsy conducted in Sth Africa, I would assume so and what have the Sth African authorities got to say?

As bad as the SA police are, they do follow accepted protocols in situations such as this, and one of basic protocols would be an autopsy before releasing the remains

That was my thoughts exactly and it would help if the story also included some details of the Sth African investigation.

[edwinchester]

I remember a few years ago the story of a couple of Thai ladies picking wild mushrooms on the Isle of Wight, South England. One died and the other was very seriously ill I seem to recall. Unless you are very sure that the local varieties are safe to eat it is very dangerous to consume them even though some look as familiar as those used to in Thailand.

[Soutpeel]

I remember a few years ago the story of a couple of Thai ladies picking wild mushrooms on the Isle of Wight, South England. One died and the other was very seriously ill I seem to recall. Unless you are very sure that the local varieties are safe to eat it is very dangerous to consume them even though some look as familiar as those used to in Thailand.

Exactly dependent on where she was in SA, lots of varieties growing there which can kill you if eaten

[Andre0720]

This article is so badly grammatically written that one can't even speculate potential causes....

Take a shot at correcting the grammatical errors...

Then you would be all set for speculating ...

[chooka]

Was an autopsy conducted in Sth Africa, I would assume so and what have the Sth African authorities got to say?

As bad as the SA police are, they do follow accepted protocols in situations such as this, and one of basic protocols would be an autopsy before releasing the remains, the other thing to consider as regards the South African company mentioned how much would you like to bet the company is owned and run by a thai national ?

I would guess there is a real possibility the company is owned or run by a Thai. There are numerous stories around the world of dodgy companies luring people to work overseas and they don't always end up doing what they thought they would be doing. Been a few incidents in Australia also.

[belg]

not real name this not real name that

also possible not real story

[Loles]

In South-Africa, and in Africa at all the life is very cheap. This is a huge problem there I have seen many many sad life wasting for nothing. TIA. This is Africa Amigos.

[MMarlow]

This article is so badly grammatically written that one can't even speculate potential causes....

The grammar in your own post is much more awkward than with the grammar in The Nation's report, "...badly grammatically...".

Perhaps we should be grateful that it prevented your speculation and left the cause of death to be determined by professionals.

[MMarlow]

As bad as the SA police are, they do follow accepted protocols in situations such as this, and one of basic protocols would be an autopsy before releasing the remains, the other thing to consider as regards the South African company mentioned how much would you like to bet the company is owned and run by a thai national ?

How does the nationality of the company owner affect this situation?

[MMarlow]

There are numerous stories around the world of dodgy companies luring people to work overseas and they don't always end up doing what they thought they would be doing. Been a few incidents in Australia also.

There's no suggestion of that here. The woman knew that she was going to work as a masseuse when she got the job and that was what she was doing.

[pacovl46]

Maybe someone put pesticides on the mushrooms?

[Soutpeel]

Maybe someone put pesticides on the mushrooms?

Or more simply she has eaten something she shouldn't have ?

[SOTIRIOS]

....oh.what's the point.....

...only foreigners are ever to blame...even for their own demise....

[saroq]

This article is so badly grammatically written that one can't even speculate potential causes....

Your sentence above hardly demonstrates and outstanding command of grammar either. I really don't see what was so poor about the grammar in the article that made its meaning so difficult to understand. You should try writing an article in a foreign language yourself before being so critical.

[BudRight]

It's not speculating that she died from the mushrooms, it's damn obvious. I had some on my pizza last night that doesn't mean I'm going wander into the forest and start gobbling down handfuls of fungus.

[ericthai]

This article is so badly grammatically written that one can't even speculate potential causes....

This is typical for Thailand. We are lucky the story stayed the same. Most of the time what they say at the beginning of the story and what they say toward the end contradiction each other. Just terrible reporting in Thailand, get better get used to it has I haven't seen any changes for the better over the last 15 years.

To the family I hope they get the real truth.

[Jim walker]

RIP to not her real name and condolences to her family and friends, I would suspect that she would have needed a death certificate to accompany the body back to Thailand and that an effective autopsy would have been done in SA to find out the real cause of death and then issue a death certificate and I am also sure her stomach contents would have been analysed so I don’t think there would not be much difference in the end result of the Thai autopsy compared to the SA one, in fact Thai autopsy would possibly be less conclusive if Central Institute of Forensic Science have the same lackadaisical work ethics of many Thais as most Thais don’t seem to need to work they would rather be on the street blowing a whistle all day nice easy job.

[ericthai]

RIP to not her real name and condolences to her family and friends, I would suspect that she would have needed a death certificate to accompany the body back to Thailand and that an effective autopsy would have been done in SA to find out the real cause of death and then issue a death certificate and I am also sure her stomach contents would have been analysed so I dont think there would not be much difference in the end result of the Thai autopsy compared to the SA one, in fact Thai autopsy would possibly be less conclusive if Central Institute of Forensic Science have the same lackadaisical work ethics of many Thais as most Thais dont seem to need to work they would rather be on the street blowing a whistle all day nice easy job.

I agree RIP.

From everything I have read and seen about the Forensic Science Institute here in Thailand they are good at what they do.

I own a factory here and have some great workers. Mostly women. Not all Thai's are lazy. Before owning my company I worked as an Engineering consultant in the petrochemical industry. I have met allot of very good Thai Engineers. Just like any other country you have people that are lazy and people that are good workers.

[FarangKino]

Very very dodgy practise to be eating wild mushrooms in South Africa - been there; done that. The differences [in looks] between the good ones, the poisonous ones and the hallucinogenic ones can be very small - even growing in the same location. The picture below doesn't look too different from those you can buy here in Tescos etc right? Eat a couple and you'll soon be seeing the fairies that sit atop them. Eating a plateful and you'll be joining the angels!

[Bluespunk]

There are numerous stories around the world of dodgy companies luring people to work overseas and they don't always end up doing what they thought they would be doing. Been a few incidents in Australia also.

There's no suggestion of that here. The woman knew that she was going to work as a masseuse when she got the job and that was what she was doing.

"The company told her she would get Bt30,000 as monthly wages plus 10 per cent commission and tips. But in fact she was paid only Bt16,000 a month and had to work as a masseur to pay off a debt of about Bt80,000."

She probably thought she knew what she would be paid as well.

Edited February 6, 2014 by Bluespunk

[barmatt]

Was the owner of the SA company Indian by chance?

Just asking........

[MegaRanter]

In South-Africa, and in Africa at all the life is very cheap. This is a huge problem there I have seen many many sad life wasting for nothing. TIA. This is Africa Amigos.

What is this one talking about?

People most likely to poison her would people from her work, of which more would be Thai.

She may have innocently had something poisonous.

In an unrelated event, I walked into a Thai restaurant around eastern gate joburg and started ordering my meal in Thai,the guy said he is from hongkong but hs wife is Thai.

Thai masseuses that I know working somewhere in Africa makes 16000 baht on a good day and they all have bfs from a particular firm Salini.

[bobbysan124]

Sorry for her husband and kids. Sad situation whatever the details.