Turkey has expanded its investigation into the death of a woman and her two young children last week after suffering suspected poisoning in İstanbul, with Health Minister Kemal Memişoğlu announcing a formal review into the family’s treatment and discharge from a hospital, the DHA news agency reported.
Çiğdem Böcek and her children, 6-year-old Kadir Muhammet and 3-year-old Masal, died after falling ill during a holiday in İstanbul for which they travelled from Germany.
The father, Servet Böcek, remains in intensive care but is showing signs of improvement, Memişoğlu told journalist İsmail Saymaz on Monday. “The acute phase seems to have passed, but there is always risk with an intensive care patient,” he said.
Memişoğlu said the family first went to a nearby hospital on November 12 with “diarrhea, stomach pain and vomiting” and were diagnosed with gastroenteritis before being discharged.
“We have launched an investigation into the hospital procedures and treatment. We will examine what treatment was given, which will be indicated by the results,” he said.
Suspicion turns to hotel pesticide use as detentions rise to 11
What began with suspicion of food poisoning grew more complicated as the number of detainees reached 11. Police first rounded up several Ortaköy food vendors, a mussel seller, a kokoreç vendor and a café owner, but the investigation later centered on the Fatih hotel where the family had been staying.
Turkish authorities confirmed that another two tourists staying at the same hotel were hospitalized on November 15 with similar symptoms of nausea and vomiting. A third person accompanying them was admitted with cardiac arrhythmia. The hotel was evacuated and sealed off, and samples were collected by the district health directorate and disaster agency AFAD teams.
Prosecutors say the hotel was sprayed with pesticides on the evening of November 11. Although initial environmental measurements found no immediate irregularities, the hotel owner, the son of the pest-control company owner and the technician who carried out the spraying were detained. Two more hotel employees were detained on Monday, bringing the total number of suspects in custody to 11.
Turkey’s Council of Forensic Medicine has not yet determined the cause of death. Officials say it is still unclear whether the family was poisoned by food or by exposure to chemicals used in the hotel’s pest-control treatment. Autopsy and toxicology results are expected “within one to two weeks,” authorities said.
Timeline of the family’s final days
The Böcek family, Turkish nationals living in Germany, had arrived in İstanbul on November 9 for a week-long holiday.
They ate several popular street food dishes in the waterside neighborhood of Ortaköy on November 11 and sought medical help the next day.
An ambulance returned to the hotel in the early hours of November 13 after the mother reported worsening symptoms. The two children died later that day; the mother died on November 14.
İstanbul’s provincial health chief, Abdullah Emre Güner, said no unusual spike in food-poisoning cases has been detected citywide. Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç said the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office is conducting a “meticulous” investigation.
As part of the probe, authorities collected vomit samples from the hotel room for laboratory testing. Relatives, speaking as they collected the bodies, said the family had traveled from Germany for a one-week visit.
A toxicology report prepared by forensic experts was expected to be released later on Monday, along with a report on the food samples being checked by experts at the agriculture ministry, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
The tragedy of the Böcek family, who had German citizenship, found extensive coverage in the German media.
The mother and her children were buried on Saturday at a ceremony in their family village in Afyonkarahisar province, about 240 kilometres (150 miles) southwest of Ankara, Turkish newspapers reported.