A British couple died in Egypt from carbon monoxide poisoning after the next-door hotel room was sprayed with pesticide to kill bedbugs, an inquest has ruled.
What happened
John Cooper and Susan Cooper, from Lancashire, fell ill while on a family holiday in Hurghada on 21 August 2018.
An inquest heard the next-door room had been fumigated following a report of a bedbug infestation.
James Adeley, senior coroner said the couple were poisoned overnight.
How it happened
Mr Cooper, 69, and his wife, 63, had been enjoying a ‘brilliant’ holiday while staying at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel, Preston Coroner’s Court heard.
But around lunch time on the eighth day into their holiday the room next to theirs, which had an adjoining locked door between them, was fumigated with pesticide, known as Lambda, for a bedbug infestation.
The room was then sealed with masking tape around the door.
Daughter found parents seriously ‘ill’
Hours later the couple returned to their room for the night but were found seriously ill the next day by their daughter, Kelly Ormerod.
Mr Cooper, a builder, was declared dead in the room and Mrs Cooper, a cashier in a Thomas Cook bureau de change, hours later in hospital.
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The inquest heard in some countries the pesticide Lambda is sometimes diluted with another substance, dichloromethane, which causes the body to metabolise or ingest carbon monoxide.
Official cause of death revealed
Following a three-day inquest hearing, Dr James Adeley, senior coroner for Lancashire, ruled the deaths, on 21 August 2018, were caused by carbon monoxide poisoning as a result of inhaling the vapour from spraying the pesticide which contained dichloromethane.
At the time of their deaths, Thomas Cook removed all of its customers from the hotel.
