By Shounaz Meky
Egyptian authorities have finally broken their silence over the mysterious death of Magdalena Zuk, a Polish girl who reportedly “threw herself off a hospital’s window” while on vacation at a Red Sea resort last month.
Polish media reacted with fury at the incident, with some suggesting that their citizen was “raped” before her tragic death.
Investigators along with the prosecutor’s office in Egypt’s Red Sea governorate said the 27-year-old committed suicide at a private hospital after showing signs of possible “mental disturbance.”
“Polish tourist Magdalena Zuk, who was staying in a touristic resort in Marsa Alam, committed suicide by throwing herself from the third floor of a private hospital,” according to a police statement quoted by Al-Masry El-Youm newspaper.
Zuk was reportedly transported to a private hospital after “suffering a state of agitation while being at the airport” only hours before her return flight to Poland, police explained.
The video released recently purportedly showed Zuk in the hospital, surrounded by what appears to be hospital staff — four men and a woman — attempting to lift her off the floor forcibly. The woman — presumably Zuk — seemed reluctant to move off the ground.
Zuk booked a holiday trip to Marsa Alam, with her boyfriend, but traveled alone because his passport had expired. She arrived in Egypt on April 25 and during her stay, she contacted her partner via a video call. In that video call, she reportedly appeared “frightened, upset and crying,” a polish media report suggested.
“Madu, what did they do to you?” her boyfriend asks her during the call. Zuk replied with a few sentences which cannot not be interpreted properly, the report added.
“I cannot say what happened. Take me away, please,” she reportedly said.
Toward the end of the call, a dark-haired man appears, saying “this conversation is a waste of time and hangs up.”
Her death aroused anger among several Polish media outlets, who due to little information provided by authorities in Egypt, went on to speculate reasons behind their citizen’s death. News website, Stormfront, suggested that Zuk was “sexually assaulted” by hotel staff before death.
It claimed that the Polish tourist was “sexually assaulted hours after her arrival at the resort by a room service worker and another Egyptian.” — Al Arabiya English
