Two tourists have died after suffering a fatal illness while vacationing in Sri Lanka. Both of the deceased stayed at the Miracle Colombo City Hostel in the centre of Colombo, according to local media reports.
Ebony McIntosh, a 24-year-old British influencer, and Nadine Raguse, a 27-year-old German woman, became very ill and were reportedly rushed to the hospital to be treated for vomiting, nausea and breathing difficulties on Feb. 1, according to the reports.
Within hours of their arrival at the hospital, McIntosh and Raguse, who had the same symptoms, both died.
The exact cause of their death has not been revealed at the time of this writing. But reports suggest that McIntosh and Raguse may have suffered a possible chemical poisoning, as the adjacent hostel room had been fumigated with phosphine, which is a deadly chemical used to kill bedbugs. The room had reportedly been sealed for 72 hours following the treatment on Jan. 30.
The Miracle Colombo City Hostel, where Raguse and McIntosh were said to have shared a room, has since been shut down after an emergency order by local police.
Ebony’s sister, India McIntosh, posted a tribute to her on social media, writing, “To my Ebony, my beautiful sister, thank you, thank you for being my older sister, one better than I could’ve ever asked for.”
“Thank you for guiding me through these 20 years of my life, I am so lucky to have had you. Thank you for being my inspiration,” she continued. “Now I get to show everyone my BEAUTIFUL sister, your infectious smile and energy, your passion and drive, THATS MY SISTER!!!”
India added that she is “truly heartbroken” and that she “can’t believe I am writing this, it feels like some nightmare i haven’t woke up from yet.”
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“We will get justice for you sis, you had so much life left to live. You were just 4 days into your months of travelling. So excited and happy to see the world. We’ll finish your adventure for you Ebo, thanks for giving us a great start,” she continued. “I’m so sad you won’t be here to see us all through our life journeys and vice versa but we are endlessly proud of everything you accomplished, you were always unapologetically yourself and did exactly what you wanted to do.”
India has also launched a GoFundMe page to help her family travel to Sri Lanka to bring Ebony’s body home once the post-mortem examination has been conducted. So far over £44,000 (nearly C$65,373) of the £40,000 (nearly C$59,430) has been raised, as of Feb. 6.
“We are absolutely heartbroken to share that our beautiful baby girl and big sister Ebony has passed away unexpectedly on the Saturday 1st February 2025, thousands of miles away from home,” India wrote on behalf of their family. “Words cannot begin to express how broken we are, it’s been like a nightmare since we found out on Sunday morning, we have prayed and prayed that this can’t be true. It couldn’t possibly happen to our lovely Ebs.”
In January, McIntosh flew from Heathrow Airport in London to “follow her dreams of travelling all over South Asia, starting in Sri Lanka,” according to the GoFundMe post.
“She was full of excitement for her adventures ahead, in typical Ebony style she had spent months researching and planning and drawing up schedules for the coming months. Her trip was cruelly cut short on Saturday 1st February, when she took very ill in the hostel she was staying in,” the post continued. “Her and several others were rushed to hospital to be treated for vomiting, nausea and in Ebony’s case, difficulty in breathing.”
The fundraiser page said that McIntosh passed away “within a few hours of arriving at the hospital, they couldn’t save our beautiful girl.”
“We cannot even begin to imagine how scared she must have felt at the time and it hurts us so badly to think of the pain she was in. We need to be with her and bring her home safely,” India added.
The post said that McIntosh “passed away with someone from the hostel beside her” and the family is grateful to the man who stayed with her during her last moments. No information about Raguse has been released publicly, aside from her nationality, age and name.
“We have set up a GoFundMe to raise money to get our family over to Sri Lanka to be with our beautiful Ebony and bring her home where she belongs. The authorities in Sri Lanka are not allowed to release Ebony to us until a full Post Mortem has been completed. There is also an ongoing investigation because of the tragic circumstances linked to how she died,” India wrote.
India said that their family cannot wait any longer to see McIntosh and they are raising the money to go toward flight costs, hotel accommodation, emergency passports, vaccinations, visas and funeral services.
“We need to be with our beautiful Ebony as soon as possible, we hate the thought of her being alone in a foreign country. We want to be able to bring her back home safely to rest. We just need to look after our angel,” the post concluded.