The first pictures have emerged of the tragic Russian tourist family who died from “asphyxia” in a five-star hotel sauna complex on holiday in Albania.
Sergey Burenkov, 60, and wife Natalya Burenkova, 58, from Moscow, were on holiday with their daughter Katya, 31, and her partner Nikita Belousov, 37.
They perished within minutes of each other after going for a sauna following their arrival at the luxury Gloria Palace Hotel.
Cops are reported to be examining whether the ventilating system in the sauna was functioning properly.
Pictures show the family Katya and her parents were keen travellers but for now mystery surrounds their sudden deaths on their latest trip.
They had ordered drinks and food to the sauna complex but by the time a waiter delivered it, they were all dead.
“I shouted several times that the drinks and the fruit were ready,” the hotel employee was quoted as saying by the 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.”
The Russian embassy in Tirana was probing the cause of death, said a Russian diplomatic source.
“[They are] investigating the circumstances,” a source told TASS.
An Albanian 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.”
Reports said the hotel’s entire staff had been questioned in a resort some 30 miles west of capital Tirana.
Investigations were underway to determine whether there was a technical failure of the sauna ventilation system, or inadequate care of the tourists by the hotel staff.
Alcohol consumption by the victims was also being examined, it was reported.