‘Smell’ in hotel room before couple died

THE daughter of a couple who died in Egypt said: “Something in that room killed them”, as she revealed there was a “funny smell”.

Kelly Ormerod, the daughter of John and Susan Cooper, the couple from Burnley who died suddenly last week while on a Thomas Cook holiday in Egypt, said the room her parents slept in had an unusual smell. Her own daughter had noticed it the night before, having returned to her grandmother’s bedroom after a family meal.

“As soon as they went into the bedroom, my daughter said they could smell something that was a little bit funny, that wasn’t right,” Mrs Ormerod told the BBC.

“All they did was spray a little bit of perfume to try to eliminate the smell. They then fell asleep and my father came back to the room an hour later. My daughter woke up and said she felt very unwell with the smell and she wanted to come and return to my room.”

Mrs Ormerod said that her father was well when he came up to her at about 1.30am with her daughter.

“When they went back to that room that evening, there was something in that room that has actually killed them,” she said. “Whether they have inhaled something that has poisoned them, I don’t know.”

Mrs Ormerod said that the next morning her father told her he felt “really, really poorly” and had vomited.

Food, water and air conditioning at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada, are being investigated.

Peter Fankhauser, Thomas Cook’s chief executive, said Mr and Mrs Cooper’s family will “hopefully” get test results within 10 days.

Last night it emerged that holidaymakers had complained to Thomas Cook about conditions at the hotel, but were assured by staff that nothing was wrong.

Alison Cope from Birmingham told Sky News she raised multiple concerns about food standards at the hotel prior to the deaths.