The search for the cause of the sudden death of a Hamburg mother and her two children continues in Istanbul. There were further arrests. The dead woman’s father also spoke for the first time.
In the case of the Hamburg mother and her two children who died in Istanbul, investigators have arrested more people. State news agency Anadolu reported that they were two hotel employees and one person carrying out pest control at the family hotel. A total of eleven suspects are currently in custody. Eight people are scheduled to appear before a judge today.
The mother and her two children who were on holiday in Istanbul died last week. The family’s father continues to be hospitalized. His condition is assessed as critical. He was in a coma and required artificial ventilation. The family was actually on their way back to Hamburg.
Investigators previously suspected the cause was food poisoning, for example from street food. The family had been eating stuffed clams from a street vendor. Concrete evidence has not been published.
The hotel itself is now suspected of being the cause of the death after another guest had to be treated for nausea and vomiting. Authorities temporarily evacuated the hotel.
The hotel management denied accusations by Turkish media that it was responsible for the deaths of the mother and child. Management officials said there were no hygiene or food issues at the house. The hotel does not offer lunch, dinner or breakfast, and drinking water for guests is only available in individually packaged containers. The hotel is also regularly disinfected.
But that’s precisely what could provide new clues about the possible cause of death. “Bed bugs are common in hotel beds in this area,” biologist Emel Öykü Kanbuk Kayıkçı told Turkish newspaper Hürriyet. There are many providers of low-cost pest control services and price competition is fierce.
“These companies buy illegal pesticides on the black market and then use them. Some use more dangerous fumigation methods,” the biologist continued. “If there is a bed bug problem in a hotel, it is likely that the beds have been sprayed. The product can be absorbed through the skin and cause poisoning.” This is also not the first death in Türkiye because of this.
The mother and two children have now been buried in Türkiye. What’s especially tragic: A family from Türkiye immediately wanted to move to the country, as the father of the dead woman said. The family already has an apartment in Bolvadin (about 450 kilometers from Istanbul). “They completely redesigned and renovated the apartment. They went without sleeping even one night. They planned to move here. It was their dream,” said the father as quoted by Turkey’s Anadolu Agency.
Toxicology reports on food samples are expected to be published later Monday, Anadolu said. After the death, investigators took samples from a restaurant the family visited.
dpa/us
