Overview
- A preliminary forensic assessment indicates the Hamburg family likely died from chemical poisoning linked to their hotel, with investigators focusing on aluminum phosphide possibly entering via a bathroom ventilation system from a treated neighboring room.
- Prosecutors have detained multiple hotel and pest-control employees, and suspect statements indicate unlicensed use of highly toxic fumigants in the building under investigation.
- Security footage reported by Turkish media shows the family locked inside their hotel while an ambulance waited outside, which delayed rescue access until a receptionist returned.
- Separately, a 35-year-old German visitor died after developing breathing difficulty and heavy sweating in a Fatih hotel, and two Dutch sisters were hospitalized with gastrointestinal symptoms in the same district.
- Health officials also reported suspected mass food poisonings—25 diners in Istanbul and 14 students in nearby Kocaeli—prompting a sealed restaurant and stepped-up measures including 24-hour video for eateries, 72-hour food-sample retention, and checks of all pest-control operators.