People buy goods and food at a street market in Istanbul.Image: AP
November 15, 2025, 10:39 p.mNovember 15, 2025, 10:39 p.m
In the case of unusual cases of illness in Istanbul, there are more victims and more arrests. After the death of a Hamburg mother and her two children, two other tourists were hospitalized with symptoms of poisoning, the DHA and Anadolu news agencies reported.
It is said to be an Italian and a Moroccan. They stayed in the same hotel in Istanbul’s old town as the family from Germany.
According to Anadolu, the two complained of nausea and vomiting, but their lives are not in danger. One of the hotel’s owners told CNN Türk, when asked about possible food poisoning, that the hotel had no restaurant and only had water. According to Anadolu, investigators took drinking water samples on site and evaluated the surveillance cameras. It was also discovered that a room on the ground floor had been disinfected with chemicals.
According to Anadolu, the police arrested three other suspects: a person in charge of the hotel and two people who carried out the disinfection. This brings the total number of arrests to seven.
The AFP news agency reported on Saturday evening, citing the newspaper “Birgün”, that the hotel in question had been evacuated. All guests were taken to other hotels on Saturday.
Suspected food poisoning
The mother and her children, aged three and six, were suspected to have died of food poisoning. Laboratory results that are still pending will provide more detailed information. Meanwhile, the three people from Hamburg were buried in a town in the western Turkish province of Afyonkarahisar, Anadolu reported. The family has Turkish roots. The father of the family continues to be treated in an intensive care unit in Istanbul.
On Wednesday, the family was initially admitted to a hospital with suspected food poisoning because of nausea and vomiting, Anadolu news agency reported. The parents were diagnosed and treated with diarrhea and gastroenteritis, the children were taken to another clinic for nausea and vomiting, but were later released. When the children’s condition particularly deteriorated, the entire family was taken to hospital again that night. Shortly afterwards both children died, followed by their mother.
Experts criticize inadequate controls
In Turkey, restaurants and street vendors are inspected, but according to experts, the density of inspections is often insufficient, especially in areas heavily frequented by tourists.
The media also repeatedly reports on suspected food poisoning. In Kayseri, central Anatolia, 80 students and teachers were hospitalized at the beginning of November after eating sausage in bread at an event. (sda/dpa/afp)