Four Russian tourists, aged 31 to 60, are found dead in hotel


Four Russian tourists from the same family have been mysteriously found dead at a beach resort in western Albania.

Albanian police said the holidaymakers were found asphyxiated in a hotel sauna in the village of Qerret late on Friday.

They have since been revealed as a couple aged 60 and 59, and their daughter Katya, 31, and her partner, 37. 

Police said the hotel's entire staff are being questioned.

Investigators are trying to discover how they all perished within minutes of each other, amid fears they were overcome by deadly fumes.

They had recently checked into the luxury Gloria Palace Hotel when they went for a sauna and died.The family had ordered refreshments to the sauna complex.

'I shouted several times that the drinks and the fruit were ready,' said a hotel worker, as quoted by Albanian media.

'No-one answered, so I walked inside the sauna and saw them all.

'One person was lying on a sun bed, two were on the (sauna) benches.

'The last one was sitting down with his legs in the pool.

'They have all suffocated.'

A police statement said: 'At around 22:20 in Qerret, Kavaja the dead bodies of four people with Russian nationality were found in a sauna.'All of them had been asphyxiated.'

A source said: 'They had only arrived at the hotel an hour before the tragedy.'

A potential technical failure of the sauna system, or inadequate care of the tourists by the hotel staff are among the lines of enquiry. 

The amount of alcohol consumed by the victims was also being examined.

The Russian embassy in Tirana was informed about the tragedy.

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