A British couple who died in a resort while on holiday in Egypt were staying next to a room being fumigated for bedbugs, an inquest heard.
John Cooper, 69, and his wife Susan, 63, from Burnley in Lancashire died in August 2018 in Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel, a resort in Hurghada, Egypt while with their daughter and three grandchildren.
An early report concluded that the couple died from neither carbon monoxide nor food poisoning but suggested their death could have been caused by possible exposure to “infectious biological agent or toxic chemicals.”
At an inquest hearing into their deaths, a German tourist said he reported a bedbug infestation in the room next door to the Coopers, which had locked adjoining doors. The infestation was reportedly treated the next day with Lambada, a pesticide.
Kelly Ormerod, the Cooper’s daughter, described her parents as fit and healthy for their age and said they had all been enjoying a “brilliant” holiday.
Mrs Cooper, a cashier at Thomas Cook, had previously visited the same hotel in April that year and described her stay as “fabulous,” wanting to visit again with her family.
On the evening of 20 August, on the day the adjoining room was fumigated in the afternoon, the family enjoyed dinner at the hotel restaurant and bar before returning to their room, the inquest was told.
Molly, the couple’s 12-year-old granddaughter who was staying with them in the room, described it as having a “yeasty smell” before relocating to her mother’s room to sleep.
Mr and Mrs Cooper fell sick in the small hours and died the next day.
The next morning, the Coopers failed to emerge for breakfast. Ms Ormerod went to their ground floor room to discover the pair were seriously ill.Ms Ormerod said her father came to the door not well and retching.
She said: “He just literally slumped and sat on the corner of the bed and said, ‘I’m really not well.”
At the hearing, she said Mrs Cooper was “groaning,” with vomit in her hair.
Medics were called as their condition deteriorated.
CPR was attemted on Mr Cooper, who was pronounced dead on the scene, while Mrs Cooper was taken to a clinic where she later died.
At the inquest, a statement from Mr Dominik Bibi, a German tourist who arrived with seven members of his family at the resort on August 20, was read.
Mr Bibi said of the room assigned to his mother-in-law: "On entering I immediately noticed a funny smell, like that of mould or damp. There was a lot of bed bugs in the bed and under it."
He said a cleaner and night manager came and apologised and his mother-in-law took his and his wife’s room, further down the corridor.
Bibi said he was outside his mother-in-law’s room later when he saw three men, two wearing the hotel uniform and the other with a two or three litre pesticide canister he assumed was being used to kill the bedbugs.
After five or 10 minutes they left the room and used masking tape to tape up around the door and seal the room, he said.
Mr Bibi added: “I would not say the job was very professional.”
The hearing continues on Wednesday.
