Egypt finds no faults in hotel room of UK couple who died
An (initial) autopsy found no signs of criminal violence or of a struggle Prosecutor-general’s office
hurghada (egypt) — Engineers have found no fault in the air conditioning unit or any other equipment in the Egyptian hotel room of a British couple on holiday who died within hours of each other, the public prosecutor said Saturday.
Tour operator Thomas Cook has moved all its customers from the hotel in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada after the couple died in what their daughter on Friday called “suspicious” circumstances.
The company said it was unclear what had caused the deaths on Tuesday of the Britons, identified as 69-year-old John and Susan Cooper, 63, from Burnley in northern England.
Experts from the engineering faculty of Ganoub El Wadi University were called in to inspect the room at the plush Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel, Egypt’s public prosecutor said in a statement.
“They examined and carefully checked all devices present in the room, especially the airconditioning,” which British media have said could have resulted in carbon monoxide poisoning through a gas leak, it said. “The committee (of experts) documented in its report that all the appliances were safe and that no leakages or any poisonous or dangerous gases were present”.
The prosecutor’s office added that it was still awaiting the forensics’ report of samples taken from the couple.
A medical source in Hurghada said that the bodies were being kept in a local hospital and doctors were waiting for authorisation from prosecutors to release them to relatives or UK diplomats.
Investigators from the local prosecutor’s office have already examined both bodies and the couple’s hotel room and found nothing abnormal, a judicial source said.
“An (initial) autopsy found no signs of criminal violence or of a struggle,” according to the prosecutor general’s office.
“The necessary samples were taken so laboratory tests can be run to determine the cause of death.”
Their daughter, Kelly Ormerod, said both her parents fell ill suddenly, and her father had died in his hotel room while her mother passed away hours later in hospital.