Ebony McIntosh was four days into a months-long trip. The 24-year-old from Derby, England, had flown out of London on Tuesday, January 28, 2025, to “follow her dreams of travelling all over South Asia,” her family wrote, starting in Sri Lanka. She had spent months planning. On Saturday, February 1, she fell violently ill in her hostel in Colombo and was dead within hours.
Nadine Raguse, a German woman staying at the same Miracle Colombo City hostel, died the same day. CNN, citing PA Media, gave her age as 26.
Sick within hours
McIntosh and “several others” were rushed to hospital with vomiting and nausea, her family said on a GoFundMe page. McIntosh also struggled to breathe. According to the family, she died within a few hours of arriving. A man from the hostel stayed with her at the end, and her relatives said they were grateful to him.
Sri Lanka Police spokesman Buddhika Manatunga told PA that both women fell ill after a room at the hostel was fumigated to treat bedbugs. Officers were investigating whether pesticides poisoned them. Global News, citing local reports, said the room next to the women’s had been treated on January 30 and sealed for 72 hours, and that the chemical was reportedly phosphine. That detail was a report, not a confirmed finding. The Island, a Colombo newspaper, wrote that it was not yet confirmed whether the fumigation played a role in the deaths.
Police closed the hostel by emergency order. A 30-year-old German man who also fell ill was still being treated in hospital, The Island reported.
No answer yet on cause
Post-mortem examinations on both women took place on Monday, February 10. The judicial medical officer returned an open verdict, and forensic samples went to the Government Analyst’s Department to pin down the cause of death. Kollupitiya Police kept the investigation open.
For the families, the practical work started at once. McIntosh’s mother and sister flew to Sri Lanka to identify her and arrange to bring her home, and her body was handed to her mother after the autopsy. Raguse’s mother asked the German Embassy in Sri Lanka for an autopsy and repatriation, and her remains went to an undertaker to be sent to Germany.
The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office said it was supporting the family of a British woman who died in Sri Lanka. McIntosh’s younger sister, India, wrote online: “We will get justice for you sis, you had so much life left to live.”
Sources
- Two tourists died in Sri Lanka after hostel fumigated for bedbugs, police say | CNN
- U.K. tourist among 2 found dead at Sri Lankan hostel, police investigating | Global News
- Open verdicts returned on deaths of two foreigners – The Island
