An apparently healthy British couple who suddenly fell ill and died at a Red Sea resort in Egypt last month may have been exposed to high levels of E. coli and staphylococcus bacteria in the food supply at their hotel, according to test results released on Wednesday by the tour operator they used to book their vacation.
But the tour company, Thomas Cook, said it did not believe that the tests, conducted by an independent hygiene specialist and air quality specialist, “shed any light on the still unexplained cause of death” of its customers, John Cooper, 69, and his wife Susan Cooper, 64, on Aug. 21.
The sudden deaths shook Egypt’s ailing tourism industry and prompted Thomas Cook, one of the best-known package tour companies in Britain, to evacuate hundreds of its customers from the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel in Hurghada. The company said autopsies by the Egyptian government might determine their cause of death.
“It is clear from these results that something went wrong in August at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel in Hurghada and that standards fell below what we expect from our hotel partners,” the company said in a statement. “It is likely that the presence of E. coli and staphylococcus would explain the raised level of illness reported among guests at the hotel during this time, supporting Thomas Cook’s decision to remove our 300 customers.”
Mr. Cooper, an English construction worker, and his wife, an employee of Thomas Cook in Lancashire, traveled to Hurghada with their daughter, Kelly Ormerod, and three grandchildren.
Ms. Ormerod told Sky News that her parents appeared to be in “perfect health” when they went to bed on Monday, but were “extremely ill and needed help” when she found them in their hotel room the next morning.
Her father died soon after paramedics arrived, and her mother died after she was taken to a hospital five hours later, Ms. Ormerod told Sky News.
“I watched them die before my very eyes and they had exactly the same symptoms,” Ms. Ormerod told the broadcaster. She said she thought their deaths were “suspicious” and that something “happened in that room and caused them to be taken away from us.”
Thomas Cook said it would offer compensation packages to customers who fell ill after staying at the hotel and that it would stop booking tours at the resort “until further notice.”
The company said its tests had found normal air and water quality at the resort, typical chlorine levels in its swimming pools and no evidence of carbon monoxide, elevated carbon dioxide levels or the presence of shigella, listeria or salmonella. The results were reviewed by Vanya Gant, a specialist in microbiology and infection at University College London Hospitals.
E. coli are a diverse group of bacteria, some of which can cause diarrhea, urinary tract infections or respiratory illnesses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It said staphylococcus is often harmless but can cause ailments like pneumonia or infections of the bloodstream, heart valves and bones.
Egyptian officials have argued that the couple died of natural causes. Nabil Sadek, Egypt’s attorney general, said last month that an inspection of the Coopers’ hotel room found no evidence of toxic or harmful gas emissions or leaks. But Thomas Cook said on Wednesday that Egyptian officials did not allow its independent investigators to examine the hotel room.
The deaths of the Coopers and the tourist evacuation that followed were a blow to Egypt’s tourism industry, a onetime pillar of the country’s economy that has been battered in recent years by political instability, violence and a series of plane crashes that killed more than 200 travelers.
More than 14 million people visited Egypt in 2010, according to data from the United Nations World Tourism Organization, a figure that plunged to 5.3 million in 2016.
Mohamed Ezz contributed reporting from Cairo, Egypt
Source : Nytimes
