Turkish officials arrested 11 people after a family of four from Germany died while on vacation in Istanbul, in what prosecutors are investigating as a possible case of poisoning, officials said.
The members of the family — mother, father and their two young children — died over the course of five days this month while staying at a hotel in the Fatih District, a popular tourist area in Istanbul, according to officials.
The sudden deaths have given rise to widespread concern across Turkey, as prosecutors initially focused their investigation on suspected food poisoning, possibly linked to some of the most popular staples of Turkish cuisine.
In recent days, however, the investigation has taken a turn to include the possibility that the family was poisoned by aluminium phosphide, a toxic chemical sometimes used in pest control, after traces of the compound were found in the family’s hotel room, according to local news reports.
The case has received so much attention in Turkey that the country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, weighed in on Wednesday.
“The investigation into the deaths is continuing with utmost sensitivity,” Mr. Erdogan said in Ankara, the capital, during an address to his party’s lawmakers in Parliament. “Anyone at fault will be determined, and there will be no mercy for them.”
The eleven people arrested in connection with the case include the owner of the Harbour Suites Old City hotel, where the family was staying, along with two hotel workers, a pesticide worker, a mussel seller and a pita bread seller, according to Anadolu, the state-run news agency.
A judge ordered four of those arrested to be held in jail as the investigation unfolds, according to the local news agency Demiroren. The authorities have not yet made a determination on the seven others, who are still detained. They could be jailed or released in the coming days. Prosecutors were still deciding what charges to file, if any. The indictment could take weeks or even months.
On Wednesday, in response to the case, the governor of Istanbul convened a food-safety meeting. He said he would require restaurants to monitor their premises with surveillance cameras and would increase inspections at restaurants and food vendors. He also announced inspections of pesticide companies.
In the meantime, the authorities have sealed off the hotel.
The family — Servet Bocek, 36; Cigdem Bocek, 27; their son, Kadir, 6; and daughter, Masal, 3 — arrived in Istanbul from Hamburg, Germany, and checked in to their hotel on Nov. 9, according to Anadolu. The family was Turkish, but lived in Germany and visited their home country every summer, family members who spoke to the Turkish news media said.
In the following days, the family visited shops and restaurants across the city, eating famous local dishes including midye, or stuffed mussels; Turkish delight; and kokoretsi, a dish made with lamb or goat intestines, officials said.
The day before the family arrived at the hotel, pesticides were applied in the room below theirs, according to the country’s institute of forensic medicine.
On Nov. 12, the family became ill, vomiting and complaining of nausea before they were taken to a hospital, according to Anadolu. The taxi driver who took the family to the hospital said in a television interview that Ms. Bocek was sick, and that her daughter was vomiting.
The children were discharged from the hospital on the same day and taken back to the hotel. The family returned to the hospital the next day after Ms. Bocek noticed that her daughter was lying down motionless and called an ambulance, according to Anadolu.
The children died at the hospital on Nov. 13, according to Abdullah Emre Guner, Istanbul’s regional health chief. Both parents were also hospitalized with similar symptoms, officials said. Ms. Bocek died on Nov. 14, and Mr. Bocek died on Monday.
A preliminary autopsy report conducted by Turkey’s institute of forensic medicine and reported by Anadolu found that all four had hemorrhaging on their stomach walls, among other symptoms. The report said that it was more likely that the family died from “chemical poisoning originating from the hotel environment” than from food poisoning.
Mr. Guner, the health director, wrote on social media that three other hotel guests had also become ill and had been hospitalized, but had not suffered life-threatening symptoms.
The forensic institute said that laboratories were processing samples — including body tissue, air from the hotel and food from the restaurants and shops where they ate — that might give investigators more insight into what happened. They expect to conclude the examination of those samples later this month.
Şafak Timur covers Turkey and is based in Istanbul.
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