Six hotel staff and pest control workers appeared before an Istanbul court on Tuesday charged with causing the deaths of a German-resident Turkish family poisoned by insecticide during a holiday in the city. The Böcek family fell ill in November at the Harbour Suites Old City hotel in Istanbul's Fatih district after a pest control worker, who was not certified to handle hazardous chemicals, sprayed phosphine gas — a highly toxic substance that can cause respiratory failure and organ damage — in a ground-floor room directly below theirs; both children, aged three and six, and both parents died within days. Prosecutors allege that the uncertified company used chemicals unsuited for residential spaces and that a receptionist who locked the hotel entrance delayed emergency responders by seven minutes, and are seeking sentences of up to 22 years for the defendants on charges of causing multiple deaths through negligence.