A family of four was found dead in a sauna just one hour after checking into an Albanian hotel, police say.
The bodies of the tourists – identified in media reports as Sergey Burenkov, 60, along with wife Natalya Burenkov, 58, from Russia, and their daughter Katya, 31, and her partner Nikita Belousov, 37 – were reportedly discovered Friday at the five-star Gloria Palace Hotel in the village of Qerret by a hotel staff member who was delivering the family’s food order.
“I shouted several times that the drinks and the fruit were ready,” the hotel worker was quoted by Albanian media. “No one answered, so I walked inside the sauna and saw them all. One person was lying on a sunbed; two were on the sauna benches. The last one was sitting down with his legs in the pool. They have all suffocated.”
Albanian authorities confirmed the tourists died of asphyxia and are investigating whether the ventilation system in the sauna was faulty.
The resort is located near the beach.
The Russian embassy in Tirana is also inquiring about the tourists’ deaths.
The village of Qerret is in Tirana County in Albania’s Western Lowlands region.
With Post wires
