Female tourists die under abnormal circumstances in Vietnam

VIETNAM - At 7.30pm on July 30, Cathy Huynh, a 26-year-old Canadian citizen who is of Vietnamese origin, took Karin Joy Bowerman, 27, of American nationality, to the Khanh Hoa Province General Hospital.

The two travelers had shared a room at a hotel on Nguyen Thien Thuat Street, in the tourism city of Nha Trang.

When hospitalized, Bowerman had no injuries on her body but suffered from a serious respiratory failure, with her blood pressure dropping to zero.

Bowerman was put on a respirator and given intensive treatment and care, but she died at 10.30pm that night.

At noon of August 1, Huynh suddenly developed a shock, a medical term referring to the organs and tissues of the body not receiving a sufficient flow of blood, and was treated at the same hospital.

Doctors gave her anti-shock therapies and intensive care, but she experienced cardiac arrests during the treatment and died at 2.15am on August 2.

Dr Nguyen Van Xang, deputy director of the hospital, said that doctors have yet to reach a conclusion about the cause of the two deaths.

Concerned agencies in Khanh Hoa Province are coordinating with the Consulates of the US and Canada in Ho Chi Minh City to investigate the case.

This come two months after two Canadian sisters were found dead in their hotel room on a popular Thai resort island.

The bodies of Audrey and Noemi Belanger, aged 20 and 26, were found on June 15 by hotel staff on Phi Phi island in the Andaman Sea, 800 km south of Bangkok, showings signs of having suffered an extreme toxic reaction.

Forensic officials found vomit in the room, blood on their lips and gums and their fingernails and toenails were blue, lieutenant colonel Rat Somboon of Krabi Provincial Police said, adding there were "signs of serious food poisoning."

The information in this article was contributed by Tuoi Tre News. For more information, visit the website http://www.tuoitrenews.vn/.