Hurghada

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carrie
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Hurghada

Post by carrie »

I had a call earlier from friends who are visiting Hurghada that they have been told that they are being flown home early and that Thom Cook are withdrawing from Hurghada immediately. I haven't any further information and neither have they anyone kniw if it's a hoax or something is going on?


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Re: Hurghada

Post by BENNU »

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/201 ... y-in-egypt


Holidaymakers to be evacuated from hotel in Egypt following couple's death
Concerns over illness prompts Thomas Cook to move guests from Hurghada resort

Thomas Cook holidaymakers are to be evacuated from a hotel in Egypt following the death of a British couple, with the tour operator citing concerns over “a raised level of illness among guests”.

The pair who died while staying at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada were named on Thursday as John and Susan Cooper, aged 69 and 64, from Burnley, Lancashire.

The circumstances of their deaths have not been released and investigations into what happened are continuing.


Thomas Cook said it would be offering customers alternative hotels in Hurghada from Friday onwards, as well as giving them the option to return home.

A spokesman for the tour operator said: “We are deeply saddened by the tragic deaths of two of our customers that were staying in the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel in Hurghada, Egypt.

“The circumstances of their deaths are still unclear. We have also received further reports of a raised level of illness among guests. Safety is always our first priority, so as a precautionary measure we have taken a decision to remove all our customers from this hotel.

“The Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel was last audited by Thomas Cook in late July 2018 and received an overall score of 96%. We will be contacting those customers due to travel to the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel in Hurghada in the next four weeks to offer alternative holiday options.”

The listing for the hotel on the Thomas Cook website includes a line saying: “Sorry, there is currently no availability.”

Susan Cooper was a long-serving employee of Thomas Cook. The news was broken to staff at the Burnley store in Chancery Walk on Wednesday. The shop was closed the following day as a mark of respect.

Ingo Burmester, the chief of Thomas Cook UK, said: “We are deeply saddened by the deaths of two of our customers while on holiday in Hurghada in Egypt, one of whom was a loyal and long-serving member of our Thomas Cook family.

“Our focus is on fully supporting their loved ones. We are urgently investigating with the hotel and supporting the local authorities.”

The Foreign Office said: “We are supporting the family of a British couple who died in Hurghada, Egypt, and we are in contact with the local tour operator.”
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Re: Hurghada

Post by BENNU »

Thomas Cook said customers who choose to leave the hotel will be able to fly back to the UK tomorrow. The statement added: “We will be offering customers alternative hotels within Hurghada, as well as giving them the option to return home."


https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/ ... CKbH0RTbbQ


Thomas Cook Removes All Customers From Egyptian Hotel After Deaths Of British Couple

The deaths of John and Susan Cooper, from Burnley, are being investigated.


Thomas Cook has removed all its customers from the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel in Hurghada, Egypt, “as a precautionary measure” following the deaths of a British couple. 
News of the deaths of John and Susan Cooper, from Burnley, Lancashire, emerged on Thursday. A senior Egyptian official told The Telegraph the couple, who had been travelling with their daughter, died after falling ill.
Ahmed Abdullah said: “We found in their room a case of pills that showed both of them suffered chronic illnesses. 
“The husband fell sick and was taken to hospital where he died. About three hours later his wife had a shock and died.” 
The tour operator said on Thursday evening it had received further reports of a raised level of illness among guests, and had “taken a decision to remove all our customers from this hotel”. 


Details of their deaths have not been released and an investigation is underway.
The company said it last audited the hotel in late July, and said it had received an overall score of 96%.
A statement from Thomas Cook UK chief Ingo Burmester said: “We are deeply saddened by the deaths of two of our customers while on holiday in in Hurghada in Egypt, one of whom was a loyal and long-serving member of our Thomas Cook family.
A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: “We are supporting the family of a British couple who died in Hurghada, Egypt and we are in contact with the local tour operator.”
Thomas Cook said customers who choose to leave the hotel will be able to fly back to the UK tomorrow. The statement added: “We will be offering customers alternative hotels within Hurghada, as well as giving them the option to return home.
“We continue to work closely with the hotel and are supporting the authorities with their investigations.
“We will be contacting those customers due to travel to the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel in Hurghada in the next four weeks to offer alternative holiday options.”


Thomas Cook said customers who choose to leave the hotel will be able to fly back to the UK tomorrow. The statement added: “We will be offering customers alternative hotels within Hurghada, as well as giving them the option to return home.
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Re: Hurghada

Post by BENNU »

carrie wrote:I had a call earlier from friends who are visiting Hurghada that they have been told that they are being flown home early and that Thom Cook are withdrawing from Hurghada immediately.
BENNU wrote:Thomas Cook said it would be offering customers alternative hotels in Hurghada from Friday onwards, as well as giving them the option to return home.
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Re: Hurghada

Post by Major Thom »

This was on our News yesterday with a report that TC would be investigating thoroughly, but the circumstances were not reported until this morning. Seems a bit dodgy to say the least following a TC audit around 8 weeks ago. It's a good job outside monitors are investigating.
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Re: Hurghada

Post by carrie »

Panic over I have heard from them they are just being moved to an other hotel, they have been staying at the Steigenberger and apparently quite a few people had been taken ill although they have been fine. I read your post Bennu and they know nothing about someone actually dying. But confusion reigned for a while when TC reps told them they were being evacuated from Hurghada.
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Re: Hurghada

Post by newcastle »

I live just over the road from Steigenberger Aquamagic. It's a new hotel - only opened a couple of years ago. It's huge....and Steigenberger are one of the better operators.

The cause of the deaths is currently not ascertained - allowing the rumour mill to go into overdrive.

There's currently no indication that any other tour companies are concerned for their guests
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Re: Hurghada

Post by Horus »

What is clear by the news here is a spokesman for the family (a daughter) has said that her parents were not ill and were in previous good health, that her father died in the hotel room in front of her and the mother died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.
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Re: Hurghada

Post by DJKeefy »

No wonder people dont trust Egypt when something happens, they always try to cover it up :(


Egypt says:
"We found in their room a case of pills that showed both of them suffered chronic illnesses."

The Daughter (who was with them) says:
"Mum and Dad were fit and healthy. They had no health problems at all."


Egypt says:
"The husband fell sick and was taken to hospital, where he died"

The Daughter says:
"Dad never went to hospital - he died in the hotel room in front of me."


Hotel general manager says:
"strongly denied there was "an increased incidence of illness" at the resort"

Thomas Cook says:
"a raised level of illness among guests"

Tourist in the hotel says:
"seen five of her seven family members fall ill during that time."

"Other guests are saying:
"there are 40 people ill at the hotel with vomiting and diarrhoea,"
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Re: Hurghada

Post by newcastle »

I doubt the family will accept the Egyptian post mortem finding of "heart and respiratory failure" so speculation will rumble on for a while yet.
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Re: Hurghada

Post by Who2 »

'Another nail in the .......tourist industry ?
Could be many reasons but standards drop all the time here, we await a proper UK post-mortem.
People still go on Nile cruises on boats that have been laid up for years, 'floating cockroach cities... 8)
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Re: Hurghada

Post by Horus »

Being quoted on the UK news the daughter is saying that she is concerned to leave Egypt with her children, but fears she is currently at the mercy of the authorities. She is about to be visited by the British Consul so maybe he can sort things out for her. She is still claiming that something is not right about the situation and she is being kept in the dark, the Egyptian medical explanation is also raising a few eyebrows here.
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Re: Hurghada

Post by Horus »

The more you get to hear about this it is starting to look like a case of severe food poisoning, hardly surprising being Egypt. :(
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Re: Hurghada

Post by A-Four »

I'm at home on holiday, so able to do a little research. It seems Associated Press here in the U.K. got hold of this story on Thursday around 7p.m. (BST).

It seems the latest news is that Mr John Cooper died on Tuesday, and shortly after (what ever that means) his wife also died, brought about by heart failure. Accordingly to,.........and I quote an Egyptian Government official,.............a visual autopsy. .........I joke not,.......I don't believe you could make this up even if you tried.

It seems these days that when ever anything goes wrong in Egypt these days, the authorities instantly puts up the 'Not me Guv'nor ' sign, no matter how serious.
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Re: Hurghada

Post by Who2 »

Curries! that's the answer those Indians knew a thing or two about cooking decaying, decomposed, decomposing,
disintegrating, festering, fetid,mouldy, putrescent meat with added flies and cockroaches.

Now we all know, you cannot beat a good hot curry, with iced Cobra beer. Hygiene! is also quite important when cooking.
Breakfasts in big posh Tourists hotels ?
The Breakfast Bar: all laid out, cheeses, eggs, flies, dried meats, flies, dubuis salamis, cornflakes, more flies, a chef with dirty 'whites flipping your eggs.
It's 'just a thought!........ Oh! and What's that big brown thing floating in the pool ? ......
Ps: I'm sure T Cook's will fly the deceased home... 8)
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Re: Hurghada

Post by A-Four »

Horus wrote:The more you get to hear about this it is starting to look like a case of severe food poisoning, hardly surprising being Egypt. :(
I can not really agree at a hotel of this standard, had these two people picked up this obvious powerful strain then others at the same time would have had similar conditions, though the effect may have been less severe depending on individuals health

I note that the family in question had been in Egypt already one week before the deaths occurred. Were they previously on a cruise ? Had they eaten something outside the hotel ?

Until a real autopsy is carried out we will not be sure of anything.
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Re: Hurghada

Post by Horus »

No one mentioned it being the hotel food, I refer to Egyptian hygiene in
general.
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Re: Hurghada

Post by carrie »

My friemds told me that there had been a number of people ill and that is was being put down to food poisonimg, they themselves had been well.
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Re: Hurghada

Post by HEPZIBAH »

There was a lady interviewed in the UK today who returned from a holiday at that hotel about three weeks ago. She and her husband were both taken ill, he quite badly at the time from what I understood, and she is being treated by antibiotics.

There have been a number of reports of people falling ill in recent weeks - more than what would be considered a normally acceptable number.

What I'm finding odd, and difficult to understand, is the different reports coming from Thomas Cook customers about the information they were, or not, given regarding the deaths and the options to be flown home, and for those staying being moved to another hotel.
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Re: Hurghada

Post by Major Thom »

I would think that everyone dies from Heart Failure, don't they? You know when the heart stops to beat!! I too thought that it may have been a dodgy meal. Apparently though the couple dined in the Hotel that night. So the plot thickens! Have you noticed though that 24 holiday making people who stayed at the same Hotel have now jumped on the compensation Band Wagon since this poor couple passed. I am sure the daughter will have a second PM done in the UK for a thorough test to find out really if it were due to anything dodgy. Normally regarding a proper PM, blood and toxicology results in the UK do not come back for at least 6 days, so there is one good thing the Egyptian Laboratories are on the ball. They are not saying much in the local press about the happening..
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