A single mum-of-three who spent five years looking for answers about her parents’ tragic deaths while on holiday in Egypt has revealed that the incident has left her traumatised.
Kelly Ormerod’s remarks follow a recent British inquest that determined John and Susan Cooper’s deaths were caused by carbon monoxide poisoning.
John Cooper, aged 69, and his wife Susan, aged 63, from Burnley, Lancashire, had been enjoying a “brilliant” holiday while staying at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada in August 2018, Preston Coroner’s Court heard.
However, the couple suddenly fell ill in their hotel room and died from carbon monoxide poisoning after the room next door was sprayed with pesticide to kill bed bugs, the coroner ruled.
Kelly said: “I still suffer from the trauma of seeing them die in such a dreadful way. Our family is broken without them.
“I’m still in so much pain over the thought their deaths could have been prevented but I’m glad we now finally have the answers.
“We’ve been given closure in the sense that we know how this happened but I don’t feel any better. It should never have happened in the first place.”
Around lunchtime, on the eighth day of John and Susan’s holiday the room next to theirs, which had an adjoining locked door between them, was fumigated with pesticide, known as Lambda, for a bed bug infestation.
The room was then sealed with masking tape around the door. Hours later the couple returned to their room for the night but were found seriously ill the next day by Kelly.
Mr Cooper was declared dead in the room and her mother hours later in hospital.
Home Office pathologist Dr Charles Wilson gave a cause of death for Mr Cooper as carbon monoxide toxicity and heart disease and for Mrs Cooper, as carbon monoxide toxicity.
