Mysterious poisoning case deepens after 2 children and their parents die at Istanbul tourist site

Eleven people have been arrested in connection with the death of four members of the same family from suspected poisoning in Istanbul, Anadolu News Agency said on Monday.

A Turkish – German woman, her husband and their two children, who were on holiday from Germany in Turkey’s largest city, fell ill on Wednesday after eating a few popular dishes in Ortakoy, at the foot of the bridge spanning the Bosphorus.

They were rushed to the hospital though Two children died on Thursday and the mother the next day. Anadolu identified them as Cigdem Bocek, his son Kadir, six and his daughter, three.

The father, Servet BOCEK, died on Monday after several days in intensive care.

Istanbul prosecutors opened an investigation, initially focusing on suspected food poisoning. But evidence has since emerged that the family may have been exposed to pesticides at the hotel where they were staying, Turkish media reported.

Quoting magazine, the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet Nexpaper said that the substance was sprayed in the basement of the hotel to fight the attack of the bed bug, which may have reached the family room on the first floor through the bathroom vent. Police collected samples from sheets, pillows, water bottles and blankets before sealing off the building, the newspaper reported.

A luxury hotel in the Fatih neighborhood near Istanbul’s Historic Heninsula was evacuated on Saturday after two guests were taken to hospital with similar symptoms, Anadolu said.

The hotel was closed by municipal officials on Sunday, the agency added.

Among those arrested were five food vendors, the hotel owner and two employees, and three people were reported to the pest control company, it said, giving a timeline of when they were all arrested.

Eight of them were due to appear before a judge on Monday.

A toxicology report prepared by forensic experts is expected to be released on Monday, as well as a report on food samples tested by experts at the Ministry of Agriculture, Anadolu added.

President Repep Tayyip Erdogan said after the Cabinet meeting that “our security forces and prosecutors will lead the necessary investigation to find the causes of this death.”

The mother and her children were buried on Saturday in an international family ceremony in Turkey’s Bolvadin area, about 150 kilometers from Ankara, several Turkish newspapers reported.

“I offer my condolences to the family members who have left, and express my sympathy to their relatives,” said Istanbul History’s health chief Abdullah Emre Guner in a statement on X on Monday. “Our investigation into this incident is being conducted with great diligence.”