A mother and her two children from Hamburg died in Istanbul under unclear circumstances. Police have made further arrests and evacuated the hotel. Suspicion points to possible food poisoning or contamination from disinfectants.
A family from Hamburg with Turkish roots was on vacation in Istanbul. The parents and their children, aged three and six, fell ill on Wednesday after eating street food such as sweets, stuffed mussels, and kokorec in Ortaköy on the Bosphorus. The mother and children died in the hospital, while the father remains in intensive care in Istanbul.
Two other tourists, an Italian and a Moroccan who stayed at the same hotel in Istanbul's old town (Fatih), showed poisoning symptoms like nausea and vomiting. They were hospitalized but are not in life-threatening condition, according to Turkish agencies DHA and Anadolu.
Investigations now focus on the hotel, which has no restaurant and only provides water. Police took drinking water samples and reviewed surveillance cameras. A ground-floor room had recently been disinfected with chemicals or pesticides. On Saturday, three more suspects were arrested: a hotel official and two individuals who performed the disinfection. This brings the total arrests to seven. On Friday, four food vendors were detained, accused of negligent homicide. All have prior convictions for other offenses. A shop where the family allegedly ate was closed.
The hotel was evacuated, and all guests moved to other accommodations, as reported by the newspaper Birgün. The bodies of the deceased were buried on Saturday in Afyonkarahisar. An uncle of the father said there: "Whoever did this must be punished." Lab results from autopsies and samples are still pending. Istanbul's health director reported no unusual rise in poisoning cases. Experts, however, criticize insufficient controls in tourist areas.