Travel Tips to Southeast Asia – Chiang Mai – News alert: The manager of the Downtown Inn Hotel in Chiang Mai yesterday denied the hotel has been using a bedbug killer containing chlorpyrifos.
His comments followed reports in the New Zealand media that an independent investigation had found traces of chlorpyrifos, a potentially lethal toxin used to kill bedbugs, in samples from hotel rooms where guests had developed fatal illnesses and some died either right in their hotel rooms or elsewhere.
Thanthep Bunkaeo said Downtown Inn Hotel, which is in Muang district, had stopped using the bedbug killer a long time ago.
He insisted there was no chlorpyrifos in any of the hotel rooms.
Earlier, the findings from an independent investigation were reported on the New Zealand television programme 60 Minutes.
The investigators noted that seven guests who had stayed at the hotel and died later on might have died because of high levels of pesticide in their hotel rooms.
Investigators found traces of chlorpyrifos on bed linen in one of the hotel rooms. They assumed the toxic chemical was in a pesticide spray as chlorpyrifos is a common mixture in pesticides available in Asia.
The symptoms of chlorpyrifos poisoning include nausea, fatigue, muscle contraction and chest pain. In critical cases, the symptoms can be as serious as losing consciousness and stopping breathing.
The first guest who died at the Downtown Inn Hotel was Waraporn Yingmahasaranont, 48, a tour guide.
On Feb 7, another guest, Sarah Carter, 23, a student from New Zealand who stayed at the hotel, died of what was initially thought to be food poisoning at Chiang Mai Hospital. Her friends, Amanda Eliason, 24, and Emma Langlands, 23, became gravely ill. The two recovered and travelled safely back to New Zealand later on. After that, on Feb 19, a British couple, George Everitt, 78, and Eileen Everitt, 74, died of heart attacks in their room at the same hotel.
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