The hotel room where a British couple died in Egypt was next to one that had been fumigated with harsh chemicals just hours earlier, an inquest has heard.
John and Susan Cooper died after allegedly contracting E.coli poisoning while sleeping in their hotel room.
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John and Susan Cooper died while on vacation in Egypt, apparently from E.Coli poisoning Credit: Enterprise News and Pictures
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An inquest has now revealed that the room next door was fumigated with strong chemicals just hours before their deaths (Susan Cooper pictured with daughter Kelly)
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The family stayed at the Aqua Magic Hotel in HurghadaCredit: Booking.com
Mr Cooper, 69, died in the couple’s hotel room, while Mrs Cooper, 64, died just hours later in hospital.
An investigation revealed that the room next door had been fumigated with chemicals to kill bedbugs just hours before the tragic incident.
An expert has now suggested that the couple may not have died from food poisoning or carbon monoxide, but from possible exposure to “an infectious biological agent or toxic chemicals”.
The couple, from Burnley, Lancashire, died in August 2018 at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada.
They were reportedly on the “holiday of life” with family as their daughter Kelly Ormerod described them as “fit and healthy” before their deaths.
Mr Cooper owned a construction company in Burnley, while Mrs Cooper was a long-standing member of staff at a branch of Thomas Cook
In 2018, Egypt’s chief prosecutor revealed that the husband had suffered from acute intestinal dysentery caused by E.coli, and his wife had an infection-related complication, also possibly caused by E.coli.
But Ormerod, 40, insisted the foul smell in the room indicated something else was responsible for their deaths.
She said 12-year-old daughter Molly, who slept with her grandparents the night before they died, was lucky to escape.
And the point of view of the mother of three children was supported by a renowned expert in infections.
On August 20, the Coopers and their family went to the hotel’s restaurant and bar before returning to their rooms for the evening.
Molly said the room had a “yeasty smell” and that at 1am Mr Cooper called Ormerod to say he was feeling a bit unwell before taking his granddaughter to his mother’s room.
A German tourist staying in the room next to the Coopers has now revealed that the bed bug infestation was treated with pesticides during lunch, before the couple fell ill in the early hours.
The two rooms had adjoining doors but they were locked, Blackburn Coroner’s Court heard.
When the couple didn’t show up for breakfast the next day, their daughter went to check on them and found them seriously ill.
She said they both vomited and she noticed a strange “heavy” smell.
The two medics on the scene were in “panic mode,” according to Ormerod, while CPR was unsuccessfully attempted on her dad.
She tearfully told the inquest: “His eyes are kind of… glassy, staring.”
He was pronounced dead when his wife was taken to a clinic at the hotel where she became “super agitated” and delirious, the inquest heard.
Ms Cooper was then taken to hospital by ambulance but was pronounced dead that afternoon.
Both were returned to the UK in sealed, galvanized coffins, the inquest heard.
The statement of Dominik Bibi, a tourist whose mother-in-law stayed with the Coopers in the hotel, was read.
He said: “When I walked in, I immediately noticed an unusual smell, like mold or dampness.
– There were a lot of bed bugs in and under the bed.
He recalled that the cleaner and the night manager came and apologized as his mother-in-law took his and his wife’s room, further down the hall.
A few hours later he saw three men, two in hotel uniforms and the other with a two- or three-liter canister of pesticide that he assumed was used to get rid of bed bugs.
After five or ten minutes they went and used duct tape around the door to seal off the room.
“I wouldn’t say the job was very professional,” his testimony continued.
He added that the air conditioning in the hotel was not working that day and that the cleaner told the family that they were watching her.
He also revealed that he and other members of his family were not well.
The hearing was adjourned until Wednesday morning.
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Daughter Kelly previously said she did not believe her parents died of E.coli poisoning Credit: Simon Ashton – The Sun
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