{"id":147825,"date":"2025-02-06T17:16:41","date_gmt":"2025-02-07T00:16:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=147825"},"modified":"2025-02-06T17:16:41","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T00:16:41","slug":"british-woman-who-died-in-sri-lanka-may-have-been-poisoned-by-pesticides-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2025\/02\/06\/british-woman-who-died-in-sri-lanka-may-have-been-poisoned-by-pesticides-police\/","title":{"rendered":"British woman who died in Sri Lanka may have been poisoned by pesticides \u2014 police"},"content":{"rendered":"

Courtesy Independent<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

A room in the hostel where the 24-year-old stayed had been fumigated before she fell ill<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ted Hennessey<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday 06 February 2025 14:25 GMT<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ebony
Ebony McIntosh had been staying at a hostel in Colombo before she fell ill (Getty Images\/iStockphoto)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A British woman who died after collapsing at a hostel in Sri Lanka<\/a> may have been poisoned by noxious pesticides<\/a>, police say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Derby woman Ebony McIntosh, a digital marketing and social media manager, was rushed to hospital in the capital, Colombo<\/a>, on Saturday after suffering from vomiting, nausea and trouble breathing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 24-year-old died alongside German national Nadine Raguse, 26, who was also staying at the Miracle Colombo City hostel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A room in the hostel had been fumigated to treat bed bugs<\/a> before the young women fell ill, Sri Lanka<\/a> police spokesman Buddhika Manatunga told the PA news agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A police investigation had been launched, and officers were investigating the possibility that the women were poisoned by noxious pesticides, Mr Manatunga said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms McIntosh\u2019s cause of death had not been identified as a post-mortem examination would take place after her family arrived in Sri Lanka on 10 February, Mr Manatunga said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hostel had been closed until this occurred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office spokesperson said: We are supporting the family of a British woman who died in Sri Lanka, and are in contact with the local authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fatal incident came just weeks after six tourists died from methanol poisoning in Laos<\/a> after drinking contaminated free shots at a backpackers\u2019 hostel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Simone
Simone White, a British lawyer who died from suspected methanol poisoning in Laos (Squire Patton Boggs\/PA)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On Sunday, British survivor Bethany Clarke spoke for the first time about the incident in Laos which claimed the life of her childhood friend Simone White<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If it looked dodgy, I wouldn\u2019t have drunk it,\u201d Ms Clarke told Australia\u2019s 60 Minutes<\/em> programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We went up to the bar and I watched him pour them out from a glass bottle with a vodka label on it. I knew it would have been a local spirit, I wouldn\u2019t expect it to be an international spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Courtesy Independent A room in the hostel where the 24-year-old stayed had been fumigated before she fell ill Ted Hennessey Thursday 06 February 2025 14:25 GMT For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails A British woman who died after collapsing at a hostel in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[167],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-147825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147825\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}