- In August 2018, John and Susan Cooper went with their grandchildren and daughter to the Steigenberger Aqua Magic hotel in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada
- The couple’s granddaughter, who shared their room, began complaining about a “yeast smell.” It turned out that the smell she described was the remains of a poisonous pesticide-based insecticide
- The testimony of a German tourist turned out to be a breakthrough in the case
- You can find more such stories on the Onet home page
It was supposed to be a special family vacation. However, the holiday in an Egyptian resort quickly turned into a nightmare that plunged the family into mourning. The case of a married couple who died in mysterious circumstances while on vacation was covered in the British media in 2018. After five years, new details about the investigation were revealed. The testimony of one of the tourists turned out to be crucial in the case.
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In August 2018 John, 69, and Susan, 64, rented a room at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic hotel in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada.. The couple was accompanied by their grandchildren and daughter, Kelly Ormerod.
The nightmare began on August 20, when the family returned from the hotel restaurant and went to their rooms. The deceased couple’s granddaughter, Molly, who was supposed to sleep in her grandparents’ room that day, started complaining about an unpleasant “yeast smell” and moved to her mother’s bedroom. “She said the smell of my parents’ room made her sick.” – said Kelly Ormerod in an interview for the BBC.
The next day, when John and Susan failed to show up for breakfast, a concerned Kelly went to their room to see what had happened. Her father, who was already in a very bad condition, answered his daughter’s knocking.
As soon as he opened the door, I smelled vomit and he was babbling (…). It was like watching a ball bounce. He zigzagged, pushing against the walls
– the woman recalled.
Terrified, Kelly called an ambulance – as she emphasized during an interview with the BBC – it didn’t arrive until an hour later. When rescuers arrived at the hotel, the couple was no longer able to get out of bed.
-They couldn’t support their own body weight, so they lay down. The doctor called a second specialist. It was chaos. Dad wasn’t moving, he wasn’t talking, he was frozen. Mom didn’t say anything but moaned in pain
– Kelly described.
Despite attempts to resuscitate John and take Susan to the hospital, the couple could not be saved.
The sudden, unexplained deaths of John and Susan Cooper shocked the British people. According to the report prepared by the prosecutor’s office, the cause of death was supposed to be poisoning with the E. coli bacteria. However, this thesis did not convince the daughter of the deceased couple, Kelly Ormerod, which requested another autopsy be carried out after the bodies were brought back to the UK.
It was suspected that the real cause of death was poisoning with insecticide fumes. They turned out to be a breakthrough in the case testimony of a German tourist who occupied the apartment next to the couple’s and saw one of the rooms being sprayed with a poisonous pesticide-based agent during lunch time. Ultimately, the investigation showed that it was the toxins inhaled by the spouses that led to their death.
Sources: manchestereveningnews.co.uk, bbc.com, o2.pl
