From Resort To Nightmare

When Joshua Tadley’s friend, Matthew Besthorpe, came home from last vacation in a tropical climate, there was not exactly a happy welcome. He lay still in a box, no sign of life in his body. How did it happen?

‘When your friend goes on vacation, you don’t expect him to come back in a box. Something is not right.’

TUI has been selling vacation packages to a tropical resort in West Africa for years. There were never any complaints. Until now, when service users started coming back in a box or not coming back at all.

Mr Hugh Poller landed in the hospital with a severe case of gastroenteritis.

‘Hospital conditions are horrific,’ his wife Barbara said. ‘We came on vacation and ended up being treated like soldiers in a war. Right now, my husband fights for life while I’m scared to stay and eat anything at the resort.’

Mr and Mrs Poller’s son, Robert, came from the UK specifically to visit his father. He saw appalling hygiene standards and a lack of proper care. The prognosis wasn’t optimistic.

After a few days in a hospital, Mr Poller was still waiting for the operation and died from the complications shortly after. Among complications mentioned were conjunctivitis, shortness of breath, and weight loss.

‘I’ve lost my partner of 30 years, and my son lost his father. Nothing can bring him back now. And all of this because of our vacations. How could this be even possible?’

Despite other tourists complaining about the conditions at the African resort, TUI denied responsibility for the accident. The company paid £4,000 in damages, but in their statements, they assured the safety of their holiday packages.

‘We’ve been selling our products for years and never heard any serious complaints. Recent cases proved to be a small exception from the maintained standards. Ministry of Health assured us that they’re doing everything that they can to tackle the problem.’

Meanwhile, cases of gastroenteritis and Shigella grew in numbers, with other people arriving at the resort and desperately looking for a doctor. In some cases, that was even impossible to achieve, as two local hospitals were packed beyond belief, sending patients to a better-equipped hospital on Tenerife.

‘Mom started feeling unwell after dinner shortly after our arrival. We took her to the emergency room right away. We were surrounded by people on drips, retching. After a few hours, we heard that she had a heart attack and died due to complications from ischemic heart disease and coronary artery atherosclerosis.’

Mark arrived at the resort a few months later. It was supposed to be his honeymoon, happy and free of trouble. He contracted a stomach bug a few days later and landed in the hospital. His newlywed wife was in shock as she was the one trying to lift her husband off the bathroom floor for two hours before calling the ambulance.

‘They didn’t let me see him,’ his wife Caroline said. ‘I sat in the waiting room with other families crying their eyes out. I imagined the worst scenario.’

It came the next day. Mark died of septic shock, heart and kidney failure and a femur fracture.

‘Doctors thought he had appendicitis and kept him all night without an operation required in the first hours,’ Caroline cried. ‘When they realised the real culprit, it was too late! That’s beyond belief. Something is definitely wrong in here.’

With the help of Paul Cagey, a lawyer acting on their behalf, the families of the victims are suing TUI in the High Court.

‘I’ve never seen any such severe cases from one resort in such a short period of time,’ he said. ‘It’s a shocking experience, to say the least.’

TUI breached the Package Travel Regulations 2018. The company pointed out that there are many causes of gastroenteritis, and they are not responsible for the resort’s suppliers. Nevertheless, they were still selling their vacation packages even after several deaths occurred at the same resort.

‘There was never any communication from TUI warning about the situation,’ said one of the victim’s family. ‘The company convinced us about the safety of our vacations. Someone has to take responsibility for what happened.’

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) reported several health and safety issues related to Shigella worldwide, including in the Netherlands, Sweden, France, and Ireland.

TUI denies responsibility and claims that several samples of food, drink, and water were collected and tested, none of which showed any signs of bacteria.

Hotel conditions described by one of the vacationers recovered from a stomach bug include flies and mosquitoes buzzing around hot food plates ready for immediate consumption by the tourists. Pest control and standing water sources are blamed for the contamination outbreak. As usual, when direct responsibility is denied, there are climate and environmental causes ready to take the blow.

Travellers were urged to wash their hands before eating, to reach for food only when it’s piping hot, and to avoid swallowing water from the pools.

Hotel authorities are addressing the situation by implementing measures to eliminate standing water sources and enforcing pest control to combat flies and mosquitoes. But did it really have to take a few deaths along the way to start thinking about changing the system?