Sri Lanka probes tourist deaths from pest fumigation

COLOMBO (AFP): Sri Lankan police said Saturday they were investigating the death of two foreign tourists, suspected to have succumbed to poisoning after the fumigation against insects in their hostel rooms.

The tourists, both women, a 24-year-old Briton and a 26-year-old German, were discovered sick in their hostel rooms in the capital Colombo.

The Briton, whose family named as Ebony McIntosh, died in hospital on February 2, the same day she had arrived in the hostel.

The German woman died on February 3, police said.

A German man is still receiving treatment in hospital.

Police said tests had been carried out to determine if the deaths were caused by poisoning due to the fumigation of room.

Sri Lankan media reported that the hostel had been fumigated for bed bugs and other pests days before, and said that the hostel had been closed by the police.

McIntosh’s family have launched an online fundraising page to bring her body home, describing how she and others in the hostel were “rushed to hospital to be treated for vomiting, nausea and in Ebony’s case, difficulty in breathing”.

“Words cannot begin to express how broken we are,” it reads. “We want to be able to bring her back home safely to rest. We just need to look after our angel.”