The family of a 24-year-old British influencer is struggling to make sense of her death in Sri Lanka just days after she embarked on an Asia-wide sojourn.
Travel influencer Ebony McIntosh died Saturday after she and a German couple sharing a room at a hostel fell violently ill. The German woman later also died, Sri Lanka’s The Daily Morning reported Wednesday, while the man remained hospitalized.
Sri Lankan police immediately obtained a court order and shuttered the Miracle Colombo City Hostel where they were staying, local media reported. Outlets also noted that the room had recently been fumigated for bed bugs with highly toxic Phosphine, then sealed for 72 hours. Investigators were working to determine whether that played any role.
Police told The Daily Morning that once the post-mortem results are in, they’d be “taking legal action against the hotel management.”
McIntosh had set out to tour Asia last Tuesday, starting in Sri Lanka, according to her younger sister. A few days later, she and other guests at the hostel were rushed to the hospital with nausea and vomiting. McIntosh was also having trouble breathing and died a few hours later, her sister wrote on a GoFundMe to raise money to fly the family to Sri Lanka and bring her body home.
Family members must identify McIntosh’s body before the post-mortem examination can be conducted and her remains released, Sri Lankan outlet Ada Derana reported.