Mysterious poisoning case deepens after deaths of 2 children and their parents at popular Istanbul tourist site

Eleven people have been detained in connection with the deaths of four members of the same family from suspected poisoning in Istanbul, state news agency Anadolu reported on Monday.

A Turkish-German woman, her husband and two children, who were on vacation from Germany in Turkey’s largest city, fell ill on Wednesday after eating several popular street food dishes in the riverside neighborhood of Ortakoy, at the foot of a bridge crossing the Bosphorus.

They were taken to the hospital but the two children died on Thursday and the mother a day later. Anadolu identified them as Cigdem Bocek, his son Kadir, 6, and his daughter Masal, 3.

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.

Citing investigators, Turkish newspaper Hurriyet said a substance was sprayed in a ground-floor room at the hotel to combat a bedbug infestation, which may have reached the family’s first-floor room through a bathroom vent. Police collected samples of sheets, pillows, water bottles and blankets before sealing off the building, the newspaper reported.

The unnamed hotel in the Fatih neighborhood near Istanbul’s historic peninsula was evacuated on Saturday after two more guests were taken to hospital with similar symptoms, Anadolu said.

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

Among those detained were five food vendors, the hotel owner, two employees and three people from the pest control company, he reported, without giving an exact date of when they were detained.

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

A toxicology report prepared by forensic experts is expected to be released later on Monday, along with a report on food samples being reviewed by Agriculture Ministry experts, Anadolu added.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said after a cabinet meeting on Monday that “our security forces and prosecutors will lead the necessary investigations to determine the causes of these deaths.”

The mother and her children were buried Saturday in a ceremony in the family village in the Bolvadin area of ​​central Turkey, about 240 kilometers southwest of Ankara, several Turkish newspapers reported.

“I offer my condolences to the relatives who have died and express my condolences to their families,” Istanbul regional health chief Abdullah Emre Guner wrote in X on Monday. “Our investigation into the incident is being carried out with the utmost diligence.”