Egypt: holiday makers return to hotel where Brit couple died

Holidaymakers staying at Egypt’s coastal city of Hurghada said on Sunday that they felt safe just days after the death of a British couple that were staying there.

Earlier, the daughter of the couple said that something in the room of the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel must be responsible for their as-yet unexplained deaths.

Kelly Ormerod made the comments in an interview with the BBC a day after Egypt’s public prosecutor declared the air conditioning at the hotel was functioning safely.

Ormerod said while she did not know if her parents had inhaled a toxic substance, she believed something present in the hotel room must have caused the deaths of John and Susan Cooper.

The couple passed away hours apart on August 21.

Britain’s Thomas Cook, which organised the trip, said on Friday August 24 it had received further reports of illness among guests at the hotel, without further details.

The Egyptian prosecutor said in a statement that engineers assigned to check the room where the Coopers had been staying concluded that “all equipment was sound,” with no emission of poisonous or harmful gases.

But, the statement added that the prosecution would issue a detailed report once it has analyzed samples taken from the couple. The Coopers were rushed to the Hurghada General Hospital where they were declared dead.

Reuters