Mysterious death of holidaying couple caused by ‘something in their room’ daughter claims

THE daughter of a couple who died mysteriously on holiday insists the perfectly healthy tourists were killed by “something in their room”.

THE daughter of a British couple who died while holidaying in Egypt insists they were healthy before they died and were killed by “something in their room”.

John and Susan Cooper died at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel in the Egyptian resort of Hurghada, on the coast of the Red Sea, on Tuesday.

The uncertainty surrounding their deaths forced tour company Thomas Cook to remove about 300 of its customers from the resort.

Mr Cooper, 69, died in the couple’s hotel room while Mrs Cooper, 63, died later in hospital. The hotel claimed the holiday-makers died of “natural causes”.

But the Coopers’ daughter, Kelly Ormerod, who was with her parents on the holiday, said there was a “funny smell” in their room.

Mystery surrounds the death of British holiday-makers John and Susan Cooper. Picture: Facebook

She told the BBC she didn’t believe the couple fell ill from something they ate.

“While I was on holiday, a lot of people got the Egyptian tummy, they didn’t even get that,” Ms Ormerod, 40, said.

“The evening before we went to bed, we were all having a lovely family meal and they were fit and healthy.”

She said her father woke up ill and two doctors came to see him at the hotel.

“They didn’t really see to Mum because they could see that Dad was more ill and he took priority,” she said.

Daughter Kelly Ormerod says there was a funny smell in the couple’s room. Picture: BBC

“They tried basically to save his life and they couldn’t — they did CPR on him but nothing could help him, nothing could save him.

“Mum had no idea what was going on — she was oblivious to what was actually happening because she was so poorly.”

Ms Ormerod said she believed there was “something in that room” that killed her parents.

“I think when they went back to that room that evening there was something in that room that’s actually killed them — whether they’ve inhaled something that poisoned them, I don’t know,” she said.

“I can only have my opinion on what’s gone on, but there’s something that happened in that room that killed my parents.”

Tour operator Thomas Cook has evacuated all its customers from the hotel after the Coopers’ deaths. Picture: Mohamed El-Shahed/AFP

Experts have been testing food, water and airconditioning systems at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel but were yet to find a possible cause for the couple’s deaths.

Thomas Cook Group chief executive Peter Fankhauser pledged to find out what happened to the couple, but said there was no evidence of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Experts “took probes of the food, of the hygienic systems, of water, as well as the airconditioning systems and all those probes are now in Egypt,” he said, adding the results would take more than a week to return.

Associated Press reported 13 customers at the hotel had food poisoning, but in an email, the hotel told AP was no increased level of illness there.

The hotel attributed the couple’s deaths to “natural causes”.

There had been reports of food poisoning cases at the hotel around the time the Coopers died, AP reports.

Egyptian authorities dismissed speculation toxic gas fumes in the Coopers’ hotel room killed them, with an official inspection of the room finding no harmful gas leaks and all the devices worked properly.

The Egyptian prosecutor’s office said it is awaiting a forensic analysis of samples taken from the bodies to provide more details, AP reported.

Egyptian authorities also ruled out criminal motives as being behind the deaths.

An official statement by the Red Sea governorate said an initial medical examination of Mr Cooper showed he had suffered acute circulatory collapse and a sudden cardiac arrest.

It said Susan Cooper later fainted and was rushed to a hospital, where resuscitation attempts continued for half an hour.

Red Sea Governor Ahmed Abdallah offered condolences to the Coopers’ family, but in an earlier statement said the couple’s deaths were “normal” for an “English old man and his wife”, The Sun reported.