A coroner announced today that the Korkki sisters died of symptoms related to high altitude sickness, solving part of their double death mystery, but not all of it.
Autopsies revealed that affluent American tourists Annie Korkki, 37, and her sister Robin, 42, succumbed more than a week ago to “acute” pulmonary and cerebral edema while vacationing at an island luxury resort off the east African coast.
Their bodies were discovered prone on the same bed in their shared hotel suite on September 22, 2016, with “no visible signs of injury.”
The condition that appears to have simultaneously killed them involves the buildup of fluid in the heart, lungs and brain, producing dangerous swelling and even death if not immediately treated.
It commonly afflicts mountain climbers who rapidly ascend high peaks without first acclimating to the thinner atmosphere, but concussions, infectious diseases, tumors and strokes are also possible contributing factors.
Both of the Korkki siblings, however, were healthy and athletic, a family member informed reporters for CNN.
He said they had always been “inseparable” and that each worked in the financial industry; one in Chicago, the other in Denver.
The “adventurous” twosome had extended their joint vacation in the Seychelles archipelago by a few days -- perhaps due to being sickened -- although no particular reason for a departure change was given in any of their social media updates.
According to WebMD and Emedicine.Medscape, the onset of symptoms of ‘mountain sickness’ can present in only a matter of hours after the initial neurologic insult.
These include dizziness, nausea, vision loss, impaired memory, seizure, stupor and unconsciousness. Any of which could explain why the sisters had to be physically “helped” by hotel staff to their room in the hours before they passed away together.
Still, their postmortem reports don't solve the Korkki case entirely, since how they could have fallen so gravely ill, side by side, with such a weird illness, still remains unknown today.
You may want to look up other causes such as drug overdose or dry drowning. There is no altitude to speak of in the Seychelles.
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ReplyDeleteYou're right, Barbie. AN accidental drug overdose shouldn't be ruled out, especially since "medications" were found near the bodies. However, two such fatal overdoses, unless through a suicide pact, is statistically unlikely.
ReplyDeleteDrowning is a good theory too, but I think you mean 'secondary' drowning not 'dry' drowning. The former effects drown survivors -- uncommon to be honest -- and two victims later dying of near-drowning symptoms (lung and blood infections, renal failure, etc.) is also improbable. Dry drowning is rare as well, but these victims die at the scene as quickly as those who fully aspirate water (in about 3 minutes), since they literally suffocate due to a throat-closing reflex that's caused when just a small amount of water is inhaled via the nose and/or mouth.
OTHER POSSIBILITIES: Because the Korkki sisters were quickly cremated this weekend in the Seychelles area, during "a private ceremony" attended by only two of their closest relatives, it could be that a contagion is responsible or suspected. Their pending toxicology tests should shed more light on that, if released to the public. Two fatalities of a highly infectious disease, such as is common throughout the African regions the Korkkis had visited in addition to the Seychelles island chain, isn't unusual at all.
However, the symptoms both woman displayed antemortem and postmortem are remarkably similar to those of high altitude sickness, which could have developed in both within only hours of, say, ascending or descending one of Kenya's mountains too fast, or even flying too high in a plane not properly pressurized. And either event would cause the pair to have delayed, simultaneous deaths (from brain or lung hemorrhaging, for instance) because without medical treatment their potentially-fatal condition would steadily worsen, not get better.
Poisonous gas, or even certain poisons, could likewise induce the type of debilitating illness the Korkkis experienced and could also result in their dual deaths without timely rescue and hospitalization.
Not saying the Korkkis' butler did it but ... at $1800 a night, one would hope this allegedly-skilled hotel employee would have taken action LONG BEFORE his wealthy charges died!
Thank you for reading and taking the time to post you thoughtful comment -- much appreciated.
E.R.
I do not feel a natural death from sickness or from their climbing, but I do feel from my insight that THEY met with foul play, and to Know the truth is to Know Christ and to seek him ,because he holds the answers , and can let you speak to their souls,because through him it is given, from his father God, of all powers.
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