THE GRIEVING daughter of a couple who died after the hotel room next to them was sprayed for bed bugs has told how there was a chilling clue hours before.
An inquest earlier this month heard John and Susan Cooper died after reportedly falling ill from E.coli poisoning while sleeping in their hotel room in Egypt.
Mr Cooper, 69, died in the couple's hotel room, while Mrs Cooper, 64, died just hours later in hospital.
An inquest has found that the room next door to them had been fumigated with chemicals to kill bed bugs just hours before the tragic incident.
The couple, from Burnley, Lancashire, died in August 2018 at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada.
Now their family has told of their pain – and how their was a clue something was wrong before their death
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The Coopers had been sharing a room with their granddaughter Molly, 18, who had moved into her mum’s room that night because of a “disgusting smell”.
Her mum Kelly Ormerod told The Mirror: “I thought Molly had eaten something funny. She looked peaky but said the smell of my mum and dad’s room was making her feel sick.”
She says the next day she became worried when her parents had not left their rooms by 8.30.
She recalled: “As soon as he (John) opened the door, I could smell vomit and he was slurring his words. He told me they were feeling rotten. As he walked… it was like watching a bouncy ball. He was walking in a zigzag, pushing himself off the walls.”
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Kelly immediately called the hotel doctor after she saw her mum in bed covered in Vomit.
Kelly said: “It took an hour for one to arrive. Both my parents’ breathing had changed. They couldn’t support their own body weight, so were lying down.
“The doctor then called for a second medical professional. It was chaos. Dad wasn’t moving, he wasn’t talking, he was frozen. Mum wasn’t talking but she was groaning in pain.”
The two doctors who attended the scene were in "panic mode", according to Ormerod, as CPR was attempted unsuccessfully on her dad.
He was declared dead as his wife was taken to a clinic at the hotel where she became "super agitated" and delirious, the inquest heard.
Mrs Cooper was then taken to hospital by ambulance but declared dead that afternoon.
Both were returned to the UK in sealed, zinc-lined coffins, the inquest heard.
Kelly added: “I still suffer from the trauma of seeing them die in such a dreadful way. Our family is broken without them.”
In 2018, Egypt's chief prosecutor found John had suffered acute intestinal dysentery caused by E.coli.
He ruled Thomas Cook worker Susan had suffered a complication linked to infection, also likely to have been caused by E.coli.
But the inquest was told the room had a "yeasty smell" and it emerged the next-door room had been fumigated.
A report pointed to possible exposure to an "infectious biological agent or toxic chemicals".
Blackburn Coroner's Court was told the report also suggested neither carbon monoxide poisoning or food poisoning caused the couple's deaths.
Speaking after the verdict, Kelly said: "After more than five years of waiting, we've finally been given some closure around the deaths of mum and dad.
"Our family still struggle to comprehend what we went through that day and feel like it should never have happened.
"The last few years have been the most traumatic time for all of us.
"Having to relive everything at the inquest has been harrowing but it was something we had to do for mum and dad.
"We'd do anything to have them back in our lives but we take some small comfort from at least having the answers we deserve.
"We now need to try and come to terms with everything.
"Our family is broken without them."
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