No apparent foul play, but death of Quebec women in Thai resort still a mystery

It's looking more and more like two young Quebec women found dead in their room at a Thai resorts were the victims of accidental poisoning.

The question remains what exactly killed Noemi and Audrey Belanger of Pohénégamook, northeast of Quebec City?

Their bodies were discovered Thursday night in their locked room on Phi Phi Island, near Phuket, off the Thai coast.

Britain's Mail Online reported a doctor who did the initial examination of their bodies suspects the source of the poisoning may have been a meal that could have included poisonous mushrooms or an extremely toxic part of the blowfish.

Police said there was no evidence of a struggle in their rooms or on their bodies. There were signs of vomiting and the women had lesions on their bodies, as well as bleeding gums and blue fingernails and toenails, which suggest poisoning.

"We are waiting for the post-mortem examination of the victims' inner organs to see if there are any traces of toxic substances," Pol Col Thaksin told the Bangkok Post.

The post reported the Belanger sisters checked into the Phi Phi Palms Residence last Tuesday, went out for the evening, came back late and were not seen alive again.

[Related: Probe finds pesticide link to Thai tourist deaths]

Lt. Col. Rat Somboon of the Krabi Provincial Police said he estimated the women had been dead 12 to 20 hours before their bodies were found, Mail Online reported.

Police also mentioned a number of over-the-counter drugs, including ibuprofen, which they suggested could have serious effects on the stomach.

The case is being compared with the 2009 deaths of two other female tourists, an American and a Norwegian, at a Phi Phi guesthouse. Both suffered severe dehydration and vomiting but the cause of death was never established, Mail Online reported.

An Associated Press report also pointed to the deaths of several tourists from different countries last year while staying at the same hotel in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai. Again, the cause of death was not confirmed but evidence suggested a chemical used to kill bedbugs may have been the culprit.

The deaths of Noemi, 26, and Audrey, 20, has hit hard in Pohénégamook, a town of about 3,000 on Quebec's border with Maine.

Neighbour Suzie Morin said Noemi Belanger, a student at Laval University, took an annual trip at the end of each school year.

"She was a great traveller," Morin told the National Post.

"The village is devastated, and we are all suffering as though they were our own children. They were very intelligent, they worked hard in school, they had promising careers ahead of them, but the Good Lord decided differently today."

Noemi Belanger was to enter dentistry school at Laval next fall and Audrey was studying cinema at Quebec City University. In the summer they worked in their father's grocery store, the Post said.

(AFP photo)