Food bug killed British couple, claims Egypt
FOOD poisoning triggered the death of a British couple on a Thomas Cook holiday in Egypt, state officials declared yesterday.
E.coli caused John Cooper, 69, and his wife Susan, 64, to develop catastrophic sudden illnesses in their five-star hotel room, it was announced.
The bacteria gave Mr Cooper acute dysentery which led to heart failure – and was ‘likely’ to have caused his wife to develop kidney failure, according to a report released by Egypt’s chief prosecutor.
Last night the couple’s daughter Kelly Omerod, 40, said she did not believe the report. She told Sky News: ‘The Egyptians are looking for someone to blame. It is unheard of that someone dies of E.coli in such a short space of time.’
The deaths on August 21 were initially described by Egyptian officials as ‘normal for an old English man and his wife’.
But Thomas Cook said they were ‘unexplained’ and evacuated 300 holidaymakers from the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel, in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada.
Dozens of other guests were also hit by a sickness bug. The firm’s tests revealed food hygiene failures at the hotel and a ‘high level of E.coli and staphylococcus bacteria’.
Mrs Ormerod, who was on holiday with them, claimed ‘something suspicious’ had killed her parents and recalled a strange odour in their room. Yesterday prosecutor Nabil Sadek said the odour was a ‘leak’ from the next-door room which had been sprayed with insecticide – but he insisted this had no bearing on their deaths.
It has been reported the room was fumigated with a ‘farm- strength’ insecticide known as Lambda-Cyhalothrin 5 per cent just hours before the Coopers, from Burnley, became ill. Mr Sadek said: ‘This had nothing to do with the death of the tourists.’
He added there was no trace of the chemical in their blood. He said tests showed Mr Cooper had clogged arteries, and that the E.coli bug had given him severe diarrhoea and vomiting. ‘His death was the result of heart failure and breathing problems, which is a risk due to the old age of the deceased and his state of health before,’ he added.
Mrs Cooper ‘did not suffer from diseases, except a slight narrowing of coronary arteries’, said the prosecutor.
‘The onset of [a form of kidney failure] resulted in her death, and it is likely to be all because of the infection of E.coli bacteria.’ Tests for other conditions including salmonella had proved negative.
A spokesman for Thomas Cook said the firm needed to review the Egyptian report, adding: ‘We will continue to offer every support to the Coopers’ family.’
Egypt’s tourism minister, Dr Rania AlMashat, said: ‘The causes of death were determined by internationally accredited pathologists, which I hope for the family’s sake will put an end to speculative suggestions of what might have happened.’