4 people convicted over insecticide deaths of tourist family during reported bedbug infestation at Istanbul hotel

A Turkish court on Friday convicted three pest control company workers and a hotel owner over the deaths of a family of four from Germany who were poisoned by insecticide while on vacation in Istanbul, sentencing them to between 18 and 12 years in prison, state media reported.

The Turkish-German Bocek family were staying at the Harbour Suites Old City hotel in Istanbul’s Fatih district in November when they fell ill.

They took a taxi to a hospital complaining of nausea and vomiting before returning to the hotel on Nov. 12. The following day they were taken to a hospital by ambulance, where 6-year-old Kadir Muhammet and his sister Masal, 3, died. Their mother, Cigdem, died on Nov. 14, while their father, Servet, died on Nov. 17.

Investigators had initially suspected food poisoning after the family ate street food in the waterside neighborhood of Ortakoy. But that was quickly dismissed after Turkish media reported that their hotel was dealing with a bedbug infestation, with the insecticide gas believed to have seeped into their room through a bathroom ventilation duct.

Their deaths raised concerns about hotel safety standards in Turkey and prompted calls for stricter oversight. In January 2025, a fire swept through a ski resort hotel in northwest Turkey, killing 78 people.

The court in Istanbul convicted the hotel’s owner, Hakan Oglak, of the charge of causing multiple deaths through negligence and sentenced him to 13 years and four months in prison, state broadcaster TRT reported. The owners of DSS Pest Control, Zeki Kisi and his son, Serkan Kisi, were sentenced to 18 years each while company employee Dogan Cagferoglu received a 12-year sentence.

All four were expected to appeal their convictions.

An inspection found traces of the insecticide phosphine gas on towels, masks and swab samples taken from the hotel. Phosphine is a highly toxic substance that can cause severe respiratory problems and organ damage.

Quoting investigators, Turkey’s Hurriyet newspaper said a substance was sprayed in a room on the ground floor of the hotel to combat a bed bug infestation, which may have reached the family’s room on the first floor through a bathroom vent. Police collected samples from sheets, pillows, water bottles and blankets before sealing the building, the newspaper reported.  

The now-closed Harbour Suites is one of many low-cost hotels lying within walking distance of tourist attractions such as the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia.

“I offer my condolences to the family members who have passed away, and express my sympathies to their relatives,” Istanbul’s regional health chief Abdullah Emre Guner wrote in a post on X during the investigation.