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Family to bring home body of woman who died in Thailand

The mother and brother of a young New Zealand woman who died while on holiday in Thailand will bring her body home.

Sarah Katherine Carter, 23, died at Chiang Mai Ram Hospital, in northern Thailand, on Sunday morning after eating toxic seaweed she bought from a food market on Friday.

Ms Carter's mother was already in Thailand and her brother was on his way there to support her and bring his sister's body home, a family member told NZPA today.

Ms Carter's two female friends also became seriously ill from the seaweed and hospitalised, but were "doing a lot better", the family member said.

Ms Carter's devastated father today paid tribute to his daughter, telling stuff.co.nz "she touched the hearts of everyone she knew".

The hospital had called when she was admitted and he had talked to her.

"It appeared to be just bad food poisoning. She appeared withdrawn and not sounding that good, but seemed all right. But within an hour of our conversation the thing just spread to her heart and strangled her heart," he said.

His wife was in transit at Bangkok Airport when his daughter died, and he had to call her with the news.

Funeral services were being planned for Auckland and Wellington.

A close family friend, Kay Savill, who had known Ms Carter since she was about 11 years old, said she was absolutely devastated by the news.

"Sarah was the most delightful girl you could possible have met. She was really a lovely girl, she was lovely to look at and she was lovely in herself."

An Aucklander, she studied chemistry at Victoria University and had been working at Wellington accounting firm BDO Spicers in the past year.

"She wasn't a silly girl, she was a clever, studious girl," Ms Savill said.

A Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman said the New Zealand embassy in Bangkok was in contact with the families of the trio who had travelled to Thailand.

One of the other friends, Amanda Eliason, 24, was in intensive care recovering from emergency heart surgery, Radio New Zealand reported.

Her grandmother Val Eliason said the trio had been travelling in Vietnam and Thailand.

 

 

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