An inquest has heard that an Egypt hotel where Thomas Cook travel agent Susan Cooper and her husband John died had recently been fumigated for bedbugs.
Susan, aged 63, and John 69, were staying at the Aqua Magic Hotel in Hurghada in 2018 with their daughter and three grandchildren.
The inquest heard that the couple, from Burnley in Lancashire, fell ill during the early hours of 21 August and later died.
A report indicated possible exposure to an ‘infectious biological agent or toxic chemicals’, it was told.
Blackburn Coroner’s Court heard that a German tourist had reported a bedbug infestation in the room next door to the Coopers on 20 August and it was then treated with a pesticide called Lambda.
The Coopers’ daughter Kelly Ormerod described her parents as fit and healthy.
Susan, a cashier at a Thomas Cook bureau de change, had visited the hotel in April 2018 and liked it so much she’d decided to return with her family in August.
Her 12-year-old granddaughter had been sleeping in Susan and John’s room, but she said it had a ‘yeasty smell’ and in the early hours of 21 August John took her to her mother’s room on an upper floor because the girl was feeling unwell.
The next morning, when the Coopers’ didn’t appear for breakfast, Kelly went to their room and found them both retching and vomiting.
Two doctors were called but the couple’s condition deteriorated. John later passed away in the room and Susan was initially taken to a clinic in the hotel before being transferred to hospital, where she too died.
The inquest was adjourned until today.