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Istanbul Tourist Family’s Deaths Likely From Hotel Chemical Exposure, Preliminary Report Finds

Investigators are probing suspected pesticide use at Harbour Suites Old City with toxicology results still pending.

Overview

  • Turkey’s Council of Forensic Medicine says early findings point to chemical poisoning at the hotel as more probable than food poisoning.
  • All four members of the Böcek family, visiting from Hamburg, have died, with the father succumbing on Nov. 17 after the mother and two children.
  • Authorities are examining whether aluminium phosphide used in a ground‑floor bedbug treatment may have spread through a bathroom vent to the family’s room.
  • The hotel was evacuated and sealed after two additional guests reported similar symptoms, and investigators collected samples from rooms and items for analysis.
  • Istanbul prosecutors have detained 11 people linked to food outlets, the hotel and a pest‑control firm, as forensic and toxicological testing continues to determine a definitive cause.