Chemical leak suspected in Istanbul hotel poisoning incident

Turkish authorities investigating the death of a mother and her two children at a hotel in Istanbul are now focusing on the highly toxic chemical aluminum phosphide as the likely cause of death, shifting attention away from initial suspicions that centered on food poisoning.

Preliminary findings suggest that a chemical used for pest control, containing aluminum phosphide, may have seeped into the family’s room through a bathroom ventilation system from a neighboring room that had been treated earlier.

Aluminum phosphide, commonly used as a pesticide for cockroaches and bedbugs, is highly toxic and has no known antidote.

The family became ill on Nov. 12 after eating mussels and other street foods in Ortaköy. The two children — aged 6 and 3 — died the following day. The mother died on Nov. 14, while the father remains in critical condition.

The family was Turkish but living in Germany. They had come to Istanbul on holiday.

Eleven individuals, including hotel staff and the pest control company employees, remain in custody.