The deaths of a Norwegian and American tourist at Phi Phi have created the kind of headlines the Andaman coast doesn’t need now. More than 500,000 Scandinavians are expected to visit the Andaman coast in 2009. These cases need to be solved without delay by the authorities.
The grieving relatives of Julie Michelle Bergheim (22) from Drammen, Norway and Jill Sheree St. Onge (27) from Seattle, USA deserves answers on how two healthy young women who were taking a break at Phi Phi Islands suddenly died within hours last weekend.
It is also in the best interest of the tourism sectors that these cases are solved within days. Local news media, with the exception of Phuket Wan (which did an excellent series of breaking news articles earlier this year on the Rohingyas) and Andaman Times, have not reported on the suspicious deaths.
Newspapers from Norway and the US are following these cases closely. A number of journalists are currently in the Andaman region or on their way to push further and try to get the answers. Representatives of the Norwegian police, which is stationed in Bangkok, is reportedly in Phuket as an observant.
The grieving relatives of 27 year old Jill Sheree St. Onge, who was waiting for her to return home after a three month trip to Asia, demands answers. They are frustrated from lack of answers to what happened to their daughter, sister and fiancé.
– My young and vibrant 27 year old daughter Jill Sheree St. Onge from Seattle, WA suddently died May 1st while vacationing in Thailand on the Island of Koh Phi Phi Don, writes the grieving mother on her blog.
There are other unanswered questions. Another Norwegian died one month ago, and according to the Norwegian police he was staying in the same guesthouse at Phi Phi. These is also another cases, as reported by Phuket Gazette over the weekend, where a corpse of a foreigner was found floating off Phi Phi the same weekend Ms. Bergheim and Ms. St. Onge fell ill and died.
In her latest blog entry, Ms St. Onge, gives the region the kind of exposure it deserves:
“hey hey! We’re in koh phi phi right now. It’s off the west coast of Thailand about a 2 hour boat ride from krabi. So amazing. …just drinking eating and living so cheaply and having a blast. Food, drink, good books, sun and warm waters… What else do ya need? have just been wondering why we don’t live here.”
Thailand and the Andaman region doesn’t need more bad press and unsolved deaths. We demand answers.
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The pictures are used with the permission from the family.
