Special team to probe tourist deaths

A special six-member UAE forensic team, comprising a lawyer, a doctor and four police officers, is in Sri Lanka to probe the deaths of an Emirati mother and her child who arrived in Sri Lanka for a holiday.

The mother and child died at a private hospital in Wattala early on Wednesday. The father of the child received treatments at the intensive care unit of the hospital and his condition has since improved.

The man and the bodies of his wife and child were flown to Dubai on Thursday night, Dubai media reported.

The family members of the deceased have waived the autopsies of the woman and the child on religious sentiments.

Earlier food poisoning was suspected to be the cause for the deaths of the 22-year-old mother and her 11-month-old son but it was revealed that they have not consumed any food from the hotel they checked in upon their arrival. They have only taken in-flight meals and their own food they brought.

According to hospital medical staff, the family has claimed uneasiness a few hours after staying at the hotel in Seeduwa, North of Colombo. They were rushed to the intensive care unit. But the baby was pronounced dead on arrival. The mother has succumbed to the illness an hour-and-a-half later despite efforts to resuscitate.

Now the authorities suspect the family may have had a toxic reaction to some insecticides that were stored in an adjacent room of the hotel.

Sri Lankan and UAE forensic teams were investigating the toxic poisoning due to the suspected insecticide storage as a possible cause of deaths, Police Spokesman Superintendent of Police Ajith Rohana has said.