The father of a tourist who died in suspicious circumstances while on holiday in Thailand is accusing authorities of attempting to cover up the circumstances surrounding his daughter’s death.
Richard Carter from Auckland, whose daughter Sarah Carter, 25, passed away while backpacking in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai, has set up a website to warn other young people thinking about traveling to the Southeast Asian country. The new website lists a number of potential dangers that tourists could face in the country. Thai authorities claim that the Ms. Carter died from food poisoning after eating seaweed from a street vendor. However, Thai police have yet to provide any concrete proof of this theory, and the investigation remains ongoing.
What’s worrying is that Ms. Carter is not the only westerner to have died suspiciously in Thailand’s northern jungles in recent weeks. Two weeks after her death, a British couple was also found dead in the same hotel as the New Zealander. In all, there have been seven suspicious deaths in and around the city in the previous three months, and six of these were foreign tourists. The other person to die curiously happened to be a Thai tourist guide. From an outsider’s point of view, it does indeed look as though the full truth has yet to surface about the killings.
Mr. Carter for one, believes something far more sinister is going on. “It looks as though there is some individual or group going around, targeting tourists in the country,” he said. “It’s just all too much of a coincidence for the deaths in Thailand not to be connected.” And he believes that the authorities, rather than try to find the culprits, are simply covering it up. “Talking to Thai authorities is much like pulling teeth,” he complained. “It’s very difficult to get any information from them at all.”
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I've followed this story since it first came out. Upon reading the initial articles, I wrote an article myself whereby I stated that many of the local news media here in Thailand had been quick to assume this was a case of food poisoning. The initial symptoms of these victims were similar to poisoning from consumption of adulterated food, but death from food poisoning is rare. This is definitely a case of negligence on the part of the hotel and its owner, though probably involuntarily. Nevertheless, I would suggest somebody contact a lawyer in Thailand and look into possible legal action. The government and health officials are obviously trying to smooth this over with the public to avoid hurting tourism, but they should stop avoiding what needs to be done. People have lost their lives and the problem must be found and rectified.