Pesticide poisoning blamed as three die at Istanbul hotel

A hotel in the historic centre of Istanbul was evacuated after three members of a tourist family died from poisoning attributed to a pesticide spray within the accommodation, according to Turkish media reports.

The family’s four members—Turkish citizens residing in Germany who were holidaying in Istanbul—fell ill on Wednesday after eating popular street food in the tourist district of Ortaköy on the European side of the Bosphorus. They were hospitalised, but the two children, aged three and six, died on Thursday, and the mother died on Friday, the Justice Ministry announced.

The father remained in a critical condition, Dr Abdullah Emre Güner, Istanbul Provincial Director of the Turkish Health Ministry, stated on X.

Media outlets initially reported food poisoning, raising suspicions about the food the family reportedly consumed. Some media even suggested the food poisoning likely originated from mussels bought from a street vendor and stuffed potatoes. The restaurant where the family ate dinner was sealed.

Two other tourists staying at the same hotel—whose names have not been released—were hospitalised today after experiencing nausea and vomiting, the BirGun newspaper reported.

Investigators discovered that a room on the hotel’s ground floor had been recently sprayed with pesticides, the Hürriyet newspaper reported today.

Police arrested one hotel employee and two workers from pest control services, bringing the number of people arrested in connection with the case to seven, according to Hürriyet.

Four individuals had already been arrested as part of the investigation into the alleged poisoning. All guests were transferred to other hotels, BirGun stressed, without clarifying how many people were affected.

(information from protothema.gr)