Hundreds of tourists evacuated from hotel to Egypt after British sudden death

Hundreds of tourists evacuated from hotel to Egypt after British sudden death

Hundreds of tourists evacuated from hotel to Egypt after British sudden death

CAIRO - A British couple is on vacation in a Red Sea resort in Egypt with their daughter and three grandchildren.

One morning, the man, a 69-year-old English builder, collapses in his hotel room in front of his wife and daughter and is declared dead. A few hours later, his wife, aged 64, is taken to a hospital where she also dies.

The sudden death of John and Susan Cooper on Tuesday prompted their travel agency to evacuate all guests to the hotel on Friday, as Egyptian guests, officials, and officials complained about what led to the couple's disappearance.

Thomas Cook, one of Britain's best-known travel package companies, said it was evacuating its 301 guests from the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel in the seaside resort of Hurghada as a precautionary 

measure. "

The Egyptian authorities insist that the couple, seen in tanned, smiling and healthy looking pictures, died of natural causes. But other guests of the hotel complain of stomach upset because of the bad food. And their daughter, who was with them during their last hours, says that she thinks that "something suspicious" has happened.

The hotel management denied the existence of an unusual level of illness and, like Egyptian officials, insisted that the Lancashire couple - where Ms. Cooper was working at a Thomas Cook branch - died of natural causes . But Friday night, about half of the 301 guests had left Egypt and the others had moved to nearby resorts, said a spokeswoman for Thomas Cook.

The evacuation was a blow to the Egyptian tourism industry which, despite a slight recovery this year, is struggling to recover from several years of political unrest, plane crashes and Islamist violence that have led to a sharp decline number of visitors since 2010.

In the past, Egypt's ability to deal with such crises has been hampered by the lack of transparency of civil servants. On Friday, Egyptian Minister of Tourism Rania Al-Mashat and other officials, citing initial medical reports, insisted that the Coopers died of natural causes. But some foreign guests had a hard time believing them.

However, about 1,600 other guests stayed in the hotel, said Sally Khattab, director of marketing for the hotel. She added that the hotel had recently passed an audit of Thomas Cook.