Thread: Koh Samui 'Spider bite' to dead backpacker

'Spider bite' to dead backpacker


Daniel Salmon was nearing the end of a trip to south-east Asia when he died

A Sussex backpacker behaved strangely and eventually collapsed and died in Thailand after reporting a spider bite, an inquest has heard.
Daniel Salmon, 32, of Lancing, was detained on the island of Koh Samui because police thought he was "insane".
He became ill in custody and died on the way to hospital on 14 April 2007.
The Worthing inquest was told he had apparently suffered a bite three weeks earlier in Laos. A verdict of natural causes was returned.
Mr Salmon, a technician, spent nine months travelling around Australia in 2006 and was nearing the end of a two-month trip around South East Asia when he died, the inquest was told.
His mother Maureen told the inquest her son's arm had swelled up as far as the elbow after the bite.
He died doing what he wanted to do


Ron Salmon, father

He was given anti-toxin treatment, but could not be prescribed an anti-venom as he could not identify the spider.
She said he had appeared confused and slurred his speech during phone conversations home and she became so alarmed that she offered to fly to South East Asia.
Mrs Salmon said he told her, "Don't worry Mum, I'll be fine".
She told the inquest jury he had taken large amounts of money from cash machines on the island of Koh Samui which she thought was strange because of the low cost of living.
A Bangkok post-mortem examination revealed that Mr Salmon died of failure of respiratory and blood circulation systems, but forensic pathologist Dr Mark Appleton said this was not a conclusive cause of death.
He said sections of the report, which he received in August 2008, appeared to contradictory. He suspected this happened when it was translated into English.
Dr Appleton added: "Unfortunately it's not really possible to come to a conclusion as to what the cause of death might have been."
'Conflicting reports'
Thai police reports said Mr Salmon was taken into custody by police on the island of Koh Samui after they found him acting strangely.
They said he "looked insane and couldn't control himself. He looked as if he had an unsound mind."
After he was taken to a male detention room he turned on a tap and played with the water, before he was sick and became unconscious.
He later died on the way to hospital.
Mrs Salmon said the Thai authorities had not acknowledged the bite.
Mr Salmon's father Ron, 67, said: "He died doing what he wanted to do."


BBC NEWS | UK | England | Sussex | 'Spider bite' to dead backpacker

Never heard of a "spider bite" that would make someone remove "large amounts of money" before they "acted strangely" and died... Very curious.


RIP to this poor bloke.

Are there dangerous spiders in this area? I've seen tarantulas in Rayong and Cambodia, but was'nt aware of any potentially lethal species here, compared to, say, Aus...?!?

I'm scared shitless of spiders. I don't kill them but I have a bad fear.

The more I stay here the more Thailand doesn't seem so appealing with stories such as this.

Condolences to the family.

The article is an example of confusing, incompetent journalism.

What I gather from the article (could be wrong) is that he died in police custody. Not clear if this was without being provided medical help but quite possible. I'm not saying there's foul play.

The "on a way to the hospital" bit is as true as "on a way to the airport", and completely irrelevant. Even if one could establish the exact moment & place of death between "custody" and "hospital", it would be beside the point.

Key questions remain unanswered:
* Why was he detained? For what sort of behaviour? Getting cash from ATMs is hardly insane, especially when you know you're seriously ill and would need to pay cash (healthcare is not cheap).
* Where was he given anti-toxin treatment? In police custody? Article makes it sound like he never reached the hospital... but then, did he?
* How long did he spend in custody? What happened there? Did he ask for medical help?
* Who was involved -- which police officers and (if any) doctors?

All these recent Farang deaths in southern Th are quite disturbing...

It is an old trick in my home country, if a person dies in custody the staff is instructed to call an ambulance rather than a doctor and the mortuary, ambulance staff are not allowed to pronounce a patient dead, so dead on arrival will be the term used, this is very different from dead in custody and will as DOA not be registered in the statistics as a death in custody and the following days press reports will not be frontpage news but rather a small piece inside the newspaper.

This practice is a rather well kept secret that is not broadly known.

Does someone keep count of all the foreigners who have died in Thailand??? If not, I bet the number this year will rival the number of dead Thais over Songkran...

Not sure if Thailand has the same spider , but the Brown Recluse in the America's tropics is nasty, nasty and can cause hallucinations.

^ I wondered what was wrong with you.

Originally Posted by MustavaMond

Not sure if Thailand has the same spider , but the Brown Recluse in the America's tropics is nasty, nasty and can cause hallucinations.

A quick Wiki ref: Spider bite - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A lot of the spiders that have venom can cause agonizing wounds that necrotize the flesh around the bite also. Most of them are common to Australia, but I never knew were indigenous to Laos and Thailand?

Originally Posted by larvidchr

This practice is a rather well kept secret that is not broadly known. __________________

Are there any well kept secrets that are broadly known? Or any badly kept secrets that are not broadly known?


There is a spider called the The Laos Hellfire Widow that is deadly but can't find much info about it online, for some reason.

^ are you settled in yet?