The “bug” theme took an unexpected turn – according to the Independent, it is quite possible that it was the bedbugs – or rather, “unprofessional treatment” from them that caused the famous scandal of 2018 when a British couple vacationing in Egypt died suddenly in a hotel room. At the next court session, the testimony of a witness who was in the neighborhood of an area treated with chemicals to kill bed bugs was presented.
It will be recalled that the reason for the scandal was the death of 69-year-old John Cooper and his 63-year-old wife Susan, who died on August 21, 2018, while staying at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic hotel in the Hurghada resort on the Red Sea. A preliminary medical examiner’s report, cited at earlier hearings, said neither carbon monoxide poisoning nor food poisoning caused the couple’s deaths but pointed to possible exposure to an “infectious biological agent or toxic chemicals.”
And so during the investigation, on the first day of the two-day inquest hearing, a statement from a German tourist was presented, in which it was said that he had reported an infestation of bed bugs in the room next door to the Coopers. The room was then treated with a pesticide called Lambda during lunch that same day. The Coopers felt bad early in the morning and died the next day. The two rooms had adjoining doors, and although they were locked, the insulation might not have been sufficient.
According to the publication, the statement of Dominika Beebe, a truck dispatcher from Germany, who arrived at the same hotel with seven family members early in the morning on August 20, was read at the court. “My mother-in-law, who is in a wheelchair, was booked into room 5106, a room on the first floor next to Cooper’s room. Upon entering, I immediately smelled a strange smell, similar to the smell of mold or dampness. Then we discovered that there were many bed bugs in and under the bed,” said the tourist. He added that he called the cleaner and the administrator, and the mother-in-law temporarily moved to their number 5102.
“A few hours later, around lunchtime, I was outside the room when I saw three men, two in hotel uniforms and the other with a two- or three-liter can of pesticide, which I assumed was used to get rid of bed bugs. After five or ten minutes, they left the room taped the door shut, and sealed the room. I wouldn’t say that the work was very professional,” continued Bibi. He also added that the hotel’s air conditioner was not working that day and the cleaner told the family that the hotel was undergoing system maintenance. So, the tragic death of tourists may be the result of the negligence of disinfectants.
Meanwhile, South Korea has been gripped by an outbreak of bedbug attacks, so much so that the government has announced measures to combat them. If the first facts of infection were recorded in student dormitories in cities that not every tourist will find on the map — this was back in September — the tourism industry would currently alarmed. According to the South Korean government, bedbugs were found for the first time in the large and popular city of Incheon, including in hotels of the tourism industry – in particular, in saunas, as well as hostels – so far, however, student ones.