02 September 2023 , 20:40
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The daughter of British tourists who died of unknown causes in Egypt is hoping to finally get answers at a hearing five years on.
John Cooper, 69, and wife Susan, 63, fell ill overnight in their room at the five-star Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada in August 2018. While an Egyptian postmortem linked the deaths to E.coli, a British exam was inconclusive but an interim Public Health England report suggested an “infectious biological agent or toxic chemicals” were to blame.
A full inquest is set for November and Kelly Ormerod, 45 – who was on the holiday with her “perfectly healthy” parents, of Burnley, Lancs – said: “This is a massive deal as we may finally get a cause of death.
“People still ask what happened and I say, ‘I know nothing more than I did five years ago’. I don’t think I’ve actually grieved properly as I’ve had to focus on getting answers.”
She said: “My whole world fell apart when they died.
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“They were the best grandparents ever and there is not a day that goes by that we don’t talk about them.
“My girls have just done their A-Levels and GCSEs and I know if they had been here they would have planned a little party with a meal and a bottle of champagne.”
On the fifth anniversary of her parents’ deaths last week, Kelly and her children laid flowers at a woodland memorial in a local park.
“Every birthday and anniversary, we go down and lay some bright and colourful flowers,” she says.
“We want answers for our family but also to make sure it doesn’t ever happen to any other families.”