Bed Bug Fumigation Killed Couple at Resort

The coroner's verdict is in on the cause of death for a British couple vacationing at a luxury resort in Egypt in 2018. John and Susan Cooper died of carbon monoxide poisoning, CNN reports, in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada. The room next to theirs, which was connected by a door sealed with masking tape, at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel had been sprayed for bed bugs. Kelly Ormerod found her parents, who were in their 60s and lived in England's Lancashire area, seriously ill the next morning. They died that day.

The ruling was made by the senior coroner for Lancashire. The inquest was told that in some nations, the pesticide Lambda can be diluted with dichloromethane, which causes the body to metabolize or ingest carbon monoxide, per the BBC. Dr. James Adelely found the deaths were caused by inhalation of the vapor of the pesticide, which had dichloromethane in it. Ormerod said her family still struggles with the loss. "After more than five years of waiting, we've finally been given some closure around the deaths of Mum and Dad," she said. (More pesticides stories.)