Family of British couple who died in Egypt have agonising 10 day wait to hear cause of death

Middle East World

Family of British couple who died in Egypt have agonising 10 day wait to hear cause of death

The family of a British couple who died while on holiday in Egypt have an agonising 10 day wait until they can hear their cause of death.

John and Susan Cooper died while staying at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic hotel in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada.

Their daughter, Kelly Omerod said that they were “fit and healthy” before they died.

She met with senior officials in Egypt on Saturday before flying home with her three children.

Peter Fankhauser, chief executive of Thomas Cook said that specialists took probes of the food, the hygienic systems, water and air conditioning systems.

He added: “They are now examining and testing the probes and we support them in doing that, but that takes about 10 days.”

Ms Omerod said that she only realised something was wrong when her parents had not come down to the pool.

She said: “I went to knock on the door and saw they were both very unwell. It was about 11am when I went to the bedroom. They said they were extremely ill and need help.

The couple were staying at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic hotel in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada (Steigenberger Aqua Magic)

“I watched them die before my very eyes and they had exactly the same symptoms.”

Mr Fankhauser said that Thomas Cook had no real evidence what caused the deaths “but I can promise is at Thomas Cook we are doing everything to support the family and to support the Egyptian authorities to get to the bottom of it and to get to the cause.”

He reiterated that there was no evidence of it being a case of carbon monoxide poisoning.

“We have no evidence but I don’t want to rule out anything before I really know the cause.”