A couple and their two children who died while on holiday in Turkey were most likely killed by a chemical agent in their hotel, investigators have said.
Masal, three, and her brother Muhammet, six, died alongside their parents Çiğdem and Servet Böcek, after falling ill and become violently sick at their hotel in Istanbul.
It was initially believed that the German-Turkish family had died following a deadly bout of food poisoning.
But Turkey’s Council of Forensic Medicine (ATK) said preliminary findings show that chemical exposure inside the hotel is thought to be the cause, TRT reporetd.
A statement said: ‘We have considered the circumstances of the incident, the family’s medical history, the most recent information obtained and the fact that two more people from the same hotel are being treated in the hospital with similar symptoms.
‘So, it is believed that the mother and children most likely died from a chemical substance poisoning originating from the hotel environment, and, less likely, food poisoning related to what they consumed.’
The cause of death will be determined after pathological, microbiological and toxicological analyses of samples collected during the autopsies.
Çiğdem, and her two children died last week despite medical intervention, while Servet died on Monday evening after six days in intensive care.
After arriving from Hamburg om November 9, the family was admitted to a hospital on November 12 with severe nausea and vomiting while staying at a hotel in the Fatih district.
The day before, they had ventured out to the neighborhood of Ortaköy to try a popular street snack called midye – a dish of stuffed mussels served with lemon.
They later ordered a mix of dishes at a local restaurant, including kokorec, made from calf intestines, and tavuk tantuni, a type of chicken wrap, and then bought Turkish delights from a shop in Fatih before returning to their hotel.
A major probe has been launched by Istanbul’s Chief Prosecutor’s Office.
So far, 11 people have been detained, including the street vendors the family bought food from.
Mussel seller YD, Turkish delight seller FT, kokoreç seller EE, and cafe owner FMO were arrested after being taken to the courthouse for processing.
Meanwhile, two hotel employees and the owner of the company that conducted pest control at the hotel were also arrested.
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