Istanbul Hotel Evacuated After Suspected Poisoning Kills Tourist Mother and Two Children

A hotel in Istanbul’s Fatih district was evacuated on Saturday after a Turkish-German family staying there suffered suspected poisoning that resulted in the deaths of a mother and her two young children, according to local media.

All guests at the unnamed hotel near the city’s historic peninsula were moved to other accommodations, BirGün reported, though it did not specify the number of people relocated.

Two additional tourists staying at the same hotel were hospitalized on Saturday after experiencing symptoms of nausea and vomiting, the outlet added.

The family initially fell ill on Wednesday after eating several popular street foods in Istanbul’s Ortakoy neighbourhood, located by the Bosphorus. They were taken to hospital, but the two children—aged six and three—passed away on Thursday, and the mother died a day later, according to the justice minister.

The father remains in “critical condition”, Istanbul regional health director Abdullah Emre Guner said late Friday on X.

Media outlets have examined various foods the family reportedly consumed, but investigators have also uncovered that a ground-floor room in the hotel had recently been treated with pesticides, Hurriyet reported Saturday.

Police have detained a hotel employee and two pest control workers, bringing the total number of people held in connection with the investigation to seven, the report said.

Authorities said the family was Turkish but living in Germany and had travelled to Istanbul for a holiday.

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