site.btaFour Dead in Alleged Food Poisoning at Istanbul Hotel

Four people have died in an alleged food poisoning incident at a hotel in Istanbul, which previously claimed the lives of a woman and her two children, reports the publication Haberler. The father of the children, Servet Bocek, who had been hospitalized, died last night in the hospital despite doctors’ efforts.

The Turkish Bocek family had arrived in Istanbul from Germany for a vacation on November 9. On the third day of their stay at an Istanbul hotel, the parents and their two children were admitted to hospital with symptoms of food poisoning. Two other hotel guests from the same hotel were also hospitalized.

According to Turkish media, the Istanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office continues its investigation, which began following the family’s hospitalization and the deaths of the mother and her children. Eleven people have been detained, and the hotel has been closed.

New information from investigative teams of the Homicide Bureau suggests that spraying against insects in the hotel may have caused the incident.

The family had been accommodated in a ground-floor room that had been treated for bedbugs prior to their arrival. Investigators are examining whether the substance used in the spraying, which contained aluminum phosphide, could have reached the family’s room through a bathroom vent and poisoned them.

It is reported that the company that carried out the spraying did not have the required license, and the employees lacked the necessary certifications. Some of the 11 people detained by the police are from the company, while the rest are hotel staff.

At present, the hotel’s food is also being inspected, and the investigation is ongoing.

Haberler recalls that under similar circumstances two years ago in an Ankara apartment, a mother and daughter died after spraying for cockroaches and bedbugs, and 13 others were injured.