Gas victim's son to sue for millions

A woman thought to have been killed by sulphur fumes in a Rotorua motel room in February was a well-known Austrian actor who collapsed while on the phone to a friend.

Her son, Alexander Rueprecht, said the death of Ellen Umlauf-Rueprecht had caused a media sensation in Austria and Germany, where she found fame as an actor about 1960.

Mr Rueprecht, who lives in Austria, plans to sue the Tourism Board and the Rotorua District Council for the manslaughter of his mother and will seek $160 million in damages.

Mrs Umlauf-Rueprecht, aged 74, was visiting New Zealand in her role as a producer of a television documentary on the South Seas.

The owner of the Sulphur City Motel found her dead in her room on February 19.

An Environmental Science and Research Institute report found that Mrs Umlauf-Rueprecht had toxic levels of hydrogen sulphide in her blood that constituted severe poisoning from the gas.

Rotorua coroner David Dowthwaite will hold an inquest into her death in July.

Hydrogen sulphide is the gas emitted from the geothermal waters underlying Rotorua that give the city its "rotten eggs" smell. It is as lethal as cyanide in high concentrations.

Mr Rueprecht said Rotorua was irresponsible for using its geothermal properties to attract tourists without notifying them that the gas could be deadly.

"My mother was in very good health and it seems ridiculous that there could be danger without Rotorua or New Zealand warning about it - people need to be told.

"She was in a motel room on the phone - it wasn't like she was sitting at the edge of a thermal crater."

Mrs Umlauf-Rueprecht had gone to Rotorua on a short break while filming the documentary.

On February 18, she was talking to a friend on the phone when she is thought to have been overcome by hydrogen sulphide and collapsed.

Mr Rueprecht said it was not until the next morning that the motel owner found her dead after he could not contact her on the phone.

Rotorua police ordered that council staff test the room.

The council's regulatory services manager, Jim Nicklin, said continuing tests had found no evidence of hydrogen sulphide.

Mr Nicklin said he did not believe anyone at the council was aware of the threatened legal action and would not comment on whether he thought the city should warn people about the gas.

A spokeswoman for the Tourism Board said an e-mail from Mr Rueprecht had arrived giving notice of possible legal action.

Bay of Plenty medical officer of health Dr Phil Shoemack said there had been many studies on whether hydrogen sulphide impaired the health of Rotorua residents, but none had uncovered conclusive evidence.

But he said the gas was heavier than air and could be lethal in a confined space with a high concentration.

The motel owner said he could not comment because the coroner had not ruled on the cause of Mrs Umlauf-Rueprecht's death and tests at the time "showed nothing."

Hydrogen sulphide poisoning is believed to have killed 12 people since 1955, including three workers who died in an Auckland sewer last year.

The last deaths in Rotorua from the gas were in 1987, when Geoffrey and Rowena Muir died in their sleep during their honeymoon when hydrogen sulphide seeped through the floor of their motel.