Six people are found dead in a hotel in downtown Bangkok, with poisoning a possibility

BANGKOK -- Police in Thailand say the bodies of six people were found Tuesday in a luxury hotel in downtown Bangkok and poisoning is a possibility.

Investigators said the bodies were foaming at the mouth, an officer from the Lumpini police station said on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to release information.

Bangkok police chief Lt. Gen. Thiti Sangsawang identified the dead as two Vietnamese Americans and four Vietnamese nationals, and said there were three males and three females.

The victims had booked several rooms at the Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel under seven names, and some were staying on a different floor from the room where they were found dead, he said. Police are still looking for the seventh person included in the booking, Thiti said at a news conference at the hotel.

He said there were no signs of a struggle. The residents of the room where the bodies were found were supposed to have checked out earlier Tuesday and their luggage had already been packed, he said. The bodies were discovered by a maid who went to the room after they failed to check out and found it locked from the inside, Thiti said.

There was food that had been ordered earlier from room service that was left uneaten, but drinks had been consumed, Thiti said. He would not confirm a cause of death.

Police were summoned by hotel staff at late afternoon. Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin went to the scene in the evening but did not provide any additional information to journalists gathered there.