(Source : CBS) Turkish authorities have detained 11 people as investigators probe the mysterious deaths of a German-Turkish couple and their two young children during a vacation in Istanbul, according to state-run Anadolu news agency.
The family — identified as Çiğdem Böcek and her children Kadir, 6, and Masal, 3 — fell ill last Wednesday after eating street food in the popular waterfront district of Ortaköy. The children died the next day, and their mother on Friday. The father, Servet Böcek, succumbed Monday after days in intensive care.
While the investigation initially focused on food poisoning, Turkish media now report that pesticides used at the family’s hotel may have played a role. Hurriyet newspaper said a chemical sprayed to combat bed bugs in a ground-floor room may have traveled through a bathroom vent into the family’s first-floor room. Police have collected samples from bedding, water bottles and other items, and the building has been sealed.
The unnamed hotel in Fatih, near Istanbul’s historic peninsula, was evacuated after two additional guests showed similar symptoms. Those detained include five street food vendors, the hotel’s owner and two staff members, and three employees of a pest-control company, Anadolu reported. Eight suspects were expected to appear before a judge Monday.
Toxicology findings and food sample tests were also expected later in the day.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said authorities are working to “determine the causes of these deaths,” while Istanbul regional health chief Abdullah Emre Güner expressed condolences and promised a thorough investigation. The mother and children were buried Saturday in their family village in Bolvadin, central Turkey.
