Kent woman's Egypt holiday death 'was gastroenteritis'

Alison Sonnex was texting her neighbour about feeding her cats, but died hours later

A woman on holiday with her husband in Egypt "most likely" died as a result of gastroenteritis, an inquest heard.

Alison Sonnex, from Ramsgate, Kent, was at the Royal Tulip Hotel in Marsa Alam with Clive Eversfield in April 2018.

He told the inquest in Sandwich they had eaten in the hotel the night before they were due to fly home but at 01:00 BST both were ill with severe vomiting and diarrhoea.

The language teacher died hours later in the Port Ghalib hospital.

Mr Eversfield said: "I was stunned I didn't go on holiday to lose Alison."

The court heard he believed they had suffered from food poisoning during their Thomas Cook holiday.

However the hotel said 700 other guests ate similar meals without any symptoms.

A post-mortem examination in Egypt showed a tear in Mrs Sonnex's heart but a pathologist from the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford said that had almost certainly been caused by CPR, or during the autopsy.

He concluded the 54-year-old's cause of death was "most likely to be gastroenteritis".

Dehydration

The court heard Mrs Sonnex collapsed in the hotel and was carried by staff to the hotel doctor.

He put on an oxygen mask and called an ambulance which took both of them to Port Ghalib hospital.

At the hospital Mrs Sonnex sent a text message to a neighbour and asking her to continue feeding the cats, the court heard.

But within a couple of hours her condition deteriorated and she was taken to the intensive care unit.

Mr Eversfield was receiving treatment for dehydration when he was told his wife had died.

The inquest continues.