Turkish police are investigating the sudden death of a German vacationer

Turkish police are investigating the death of a German vacationer. According to Turkish media reports, Sibel T. was on vacation near Istanbul with her husband. There she complained of severe nausea and vomiting for four days and finally went to a hospital. While she was still waiting for treatment, her condition became increasingly worse. T. was then transferred to the intensive care unit. Despite all their efforts, the doctors couldn't save her.

According to reports, the case occurred on September 13th. T. went to the hospital at around 2:43 a.m. in the morning. Shortly afterwards, around 4:50 a.m., she was dead. According to Turkish media, T. suffered from chronic high blood pressure. However, a cause of death is not yet known. Turkish authorities are treating the sudden death as suspicious and have opened an investigation, according to consistent reports.

According to Turkish information, T. traveled to Turkey from Hamburg. The 42-year-old worked as a public prosecutor. The family is said to have already buried her.

The cause of death is still unclear. However, the case is initially reminiscent of that of the Böcek family. The parents traveled to Istanbul with their small children in November 2025. Shortly after arriving at the hotel, the entire family developed severe gastrointestinal complaints, nausea and vomiting, and even lost consciousness. Initially, food poisoning from street food was suspected. However, the condition of those affected deteriorated rapidly: first the two children died, and a few days later the parents died one after the other.

It later emerged that the family had been poisoned with aluminum phosphite. A pest control company had previously sprayed a highly toxic pesticide against bed bugs in the hotel. The case exposed deficiencies in government controls in Turkey.

In June 2026, a court sentenced the operator of the hotel, the owners of the pest control company and an employee to long prison terms for “conscious negligent homicide”.