I wanted them to go to hospital, says hotel chief

Thanthep Bunkaew, manager of the Downtown Inn. Photo / Brett Phibbs

The Thai hotel manager who tried desperately to help three young New Zealand women with food poisoning has described how the trio were bedridden and vomiting in their room.

Sarah Carter, 23, died in Chiang Mai Hospital after dining at a market with her friends Amanda Eliason and Emma Langlands, who are still seriously ill in hospital.

The trio were staying at the Downtown Inn Hotel in the middle of the famous night bazaar markets, where they ate a meal before becoming sick.

Hotel manager Thanthep Bunkaew told the Herald Miss Carter called him in the morning wanting a doctor because they all had sore stomachs.

"I went to see them in their room. There were three girls throwing up. One would throw up and go back to bed and then the other would go. They looked very tired. I recommended they go to hospital [but] they said, 'No, can the doctor come [here]?"'

The doctor arrived and hooked the tourists to an intravenous drip. Mr Bunkaew said he took them bread and hot tea, but the women never left their room.

Then their conditions worsened. By midnight they called the doctor back and were taken to hospital by ambulance.

"Sarah didn't want to go to hospital at first. I wanted them to go to hospital," said Mr Bunkaew.

He was very concerned by their health and visited the girls in hospital later that day, even though he wasn't working.

Mr Bunkaew spoke to Miss Carter in the intensive care unit.

"A nurse gave some food to her, a sandwich, fruit and hot tea. She ate a little bit, then threw it up.

"She said to me, "I'll be fine". She was saying she would be alright. Then on Sunday, she was gone."

After Miss Carter died, he visited Miss Langlands and Miss Eliason to give them each a single red rose.

He also spoke with Miss Carter's mother, Anna, when she arrived in Chiang Mai just hours later.

"She was crying. I was saying, 'I'm sorry'. Everybody cried."

Later, Mrs Carter went to the hotel to pick up her daughter's belongings.

Mr Bunkaew said the death happened so quickly it made him "crazy".

"She was young, beaming, and looked strong. It made me sad and it made me feel bad."

Miss Carter's mother and brother Ryan collected her body yesterday and were flying back to New Zealand via Bangkok last night.

They were being supported by the families of the other two women, who had flown to Chiang Mai to be with their daughters.

Before Mrs Carter returned home, she and Margaret Langlands, Emma's mother, visited the markets in Chiang Mai.

"I think they just wanted to see where they [the trio] last ate and see the cause of all their problems ... I think it was closure for them," Bill Langlands, Emma's grandfather, told the Herald last night.

A travel agent who worked opposite the hotel, Jai Leit, said she visited the girls in hospital to return money after they continually changed their travel plans after getting sick.

On Wednesday Miss Carter's father Richard said the family would spend the weekend with her, before her funeral on Monday.

It was earlier reported that the women became sick after eating a seaweed delicacy, but Mr Carter later said the food poisoning was caused by a curry they had eaten.

A funeral will be held in Auckland where Miss Carter was raised, with a second service set for Wellington, where she studied and worked.

- Additional reporting: Andrew Koubaridis