Egypt denies alleged organ theft after UK tourist’s death

CAIRO: Egyptian authorities on Sunday denied reports of alleged organ theft after the body of a British tourist who died suddenly while on holiday was returned home without some organs.

David Humphries, 62, died in the seaside resort of Hurghada on the shores of the Red Sea on Sept 18.

His body was returned to the United Kingdom where a second post-mortem ordered by a coroner discovered that his heart and some other organs had been removed, a British media outlet said. Accusing the UK media of publishing “flawed reports”, the Egyptian state information service said allegations of “organ theft are unfounded”.

The statement said that samples were taken and the heart, parts of the liver, kidneys and other organs had been removed in order to establish the cause of death.

The service said the tourist had probably died of a heart attack.

It also quoted his daughter Anita Goodall as saying that she did “not accuse anyone of having a hand in the death of her father”.

In another case in Hurghada on Aug 21, travel operator Thomas Cook moved all its clients to another hotel after a British couple died in “suspicious” circumstances.

Egyptian authorities say John and Susan Cooper, who fell ill and died suddenly while staying at the five-star Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel in the resort, succumbed to the effects of an E. coli infection.