Traces of a lethal toxin used to kill bedbugs have been found in the Thai hotel room where a New Zealand woman died.
Sarah Katherine Carter, 23, and her two friends Amanda Eliason and Emma Langlands fell ill on February 3 while staying at the Downtown Inn in Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand.
Ms Carter's companions recovered, but she died the next day at the Chiang Mai Ram Hospital from a heart attack and kidney failure.
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Early reports said eating toxic seaweed cost Ms Carter her life, but now six other tourists have died in the city after suffering from similar symptoms, and three who died had stayed in the same hotel, NZ Herald reports.
An investigation aired by New Zealand's 60 Minutes program on TV3 found traces of the insecticide chlorpyrifos, used to kill bedbugs, in the hotel room Ms Carter was staying in, stuff.co.nz reports.
A United Nations scientist Ron McDowall said the symptoms Ms Carter and the other tourists had suggested they had died from an over exposure to the toxic chemical.
The fact that chlorpyrifos — which was banned from indoor use in many countries — were found three months after Ms Carter's death, and after the room was cleaned suggested there was a high concentration of the toxin present while she was staying there.
"I think she has been killed by an overzealous sprayer who's been acting on the instructions of the hotel owner to deal with bed bugs," Dr McDowall said.
Dr McDowall's checked his theory with experts from New Zealand and Italy who supported his belief Ms Carter had died from the toxic chemical.
"Their reaction was that it is clear, it's chlorpyrifos poisoning — we've seen it before, the symptoms are the same, the pathology is the same, and the proxy indicates that the chemical was in the room."
Two British pensioners were found dead at the same hotel several days after Ms Carter died.
An elderly British couple, a Thai tourist guide and a Canadian man died after staying at the same hotel or using its facilities.
Two other women staying at a different hotel in Chiang Mai died in similar circumstances within one month.
Ms Carter's father Richard said he would like to know what really caused his daughter's death.
Her mother Anna said she hoped action would be taken to prevent other tourists from dying.
"Hopefully there will be some action taken now and it won't be like the other cases where it is swept under the carpet and is just an unexplained death, never substantiated with any follow up."
Read more: Victim 'not sure' what caused poisoning
Read more: 'Toxic seaweed' kills NZ woman
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