A family of four who fell seriously ill with food poisoning at the same hotel in Egypt where a British couple died suddenly are taking legal action against Thomas Cook.
Sarah McCormick, 37, of Wimborne, Dorset, feared her husband Thomas, 42, would die after being so badly affected by salmonella and the intestinal disease shigella.
The couple and their two daughters Paige, 15, and Lexi, nine, were all taken ill on an all-inclusive holiday at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel in Hurghada last year.
Sarah McCormick (left), 37, with her husband Thomas, 42, and their two daughters Paige, 15, and Lexi, nine, were all taken ill on an all-inclusive holiday last year in Hurghada, Egypt
Mr McCormick, who has run triathlons and is an former Army corporal, was left ‘curled up in a ball of pain’ due to crippling stomach pains, sickness and diarrhoea.
The floor layer was placed on a drip but a local doctor took five attempts to insert a hypodermic needle – even snapping one in half whilst it was inserted in his arm.
Last August, John Cooper, 69, and his wife Susan, 63, died suddenly while staying at the same hotel just days after the McCormicks returned to Britain.
The original post-mortem examination in Egypt said the deaths of the couple from Burnley, Lancashire, were linked to E. coli.
A UK post-mortem then proved inconclusive – although an expert said the Coopers may have been exposed to an ‘infectious biological agent or toxic chemicals’.
An inquest into their deaths is due to take place at a later date. At the time of the tragedy, Thomas Cook evacuated 301 tourists from the hotel.
Lawyers handling compensation claims from holidaymakers now claim they have received further reports of illness in the coastal resort of Hurghada.
Boxes of medication which the family had to take while on holiday in Egypt in August last year
Mrs McCormick, a bookkeeper, said: ‘I feel really sorry for the Cooper family and can’t imagine what they are going through. It’s as if their deaths meant nothing and everything carries on as before.
‘I am just thankful that I am not in a similar situation – but it could so easily have happened to us as I thought my husband was dying he was that sick.
‘He used to be in the Army and does Ironmans and triathlons and he couldn’t even lift his head off the bed he was that sick. My husband caught two separate bugs while we were over there in that resort. It’s shocking.
‘Normally in an all inclusive you have to queue everywhere but because so many people were sick in their rooms, the busiest place in the resort was the pharmacy and the on site doctors surgery.
‘We don’t want anyone to go through what we went through. People need to be aware of what can happen if they go out there on holiday to the area, as by the time they get there it is already too late.’
The incident occurred after the McCormick’s flew out to the resort on August 2 last year after paying £5,000 for their two-week break.
She said: ‘It really was the holiday from hell. There were seven people in our party and all seven of us fell ill and four of us ended up on drips including my daughter.
The bruising on Mr McCormick and Paige’s arms after the injections. The father was placed on a drip but a doctor took five attempts to insert a hypodermic needle – even snapping one in half
‘When we got there it was late – we were given the wrong room and it had no air conditioning but we were told we had to wait until the next day to change.
‘So we had a stifling night with hardly any sleep. The next day we changed rooms and at first we thought it was the quietest resort we had ever been to but we should have seen the warning signs.
‘There were people sat by the pool drinking tea and coffee and soft drinks and it was because they were too ill to drink alcohol. We saw waiters putting their fingers in guests’ drinks whilst carrying glasses to their tables.
‘Other workers would be cleaning algae and dirt off the side of the pool with dirty cloths which they then rinsed in the pool. They were doing it whilst guests were swimming – it was very unhygienic.’
‘The buffet food was lukewarm and there were flies on the bread and work tops in the restaurant and the tables were covered in left over food.
‘A lot of the food was congealed as the covers had been left off and the waiters hadn’t cleaned the tables properly and there were bits of food. It wasn’t very appetising. The hand sanitisers outside the restaurant were often empty.’
Three days into the holiday her husband fell sick with stomach cramps, sickness and diarrhoea. Mrs McCormick added: ‘He was very sick and in a lot of pain.
Last August, John Cooper and his wife Susan died suddenly while staying at the same hotel
‘I just thought he would get over it but he didn’t he got worse. then I fell sick along with Paige – all three of were laid up sick in bed.
‘I felt like a really bad parent as my youngest daughter had to stay in the bedroom with us as we couldn’t go out because we were all that sick and had to constantly be near the toilet.’
‘Thomas just didn’t seem to be getting any better. he was in so much pain he was curled up on the bed. I have never seen him like that.
‘It really scared me as he is always so physically fit having been in the Army but he couldn’t move. I really thought he could be dying, he was that bad.
‘Then Lexi also fell ill and when we visited the onsite doctor the waiting room was already full of sick tourists. We had been buying lots of medication and paying doctor’s fees and then we discovered the best treatment would be through a drip.
‘But the excess on our travel insurance policy was too much so we could only afford to have two treatments. So even though we were all ill, we decided my husband and eldest daughter should have the drips as they were the most sick.’
‘When the doctor tried to insert the needle in Thomas’s arm he failed to find a vein, and it took five attempts after he broke one of the needles.’
The Steigenberger Aqua Magic hotel in Hurghada remains off sale to Thomas Cook customers
Paige and Mr McCormick were both left with bruising to their arms following the treatments. The family logged a complaint with their Thomas Cook holiday representative before leaving the resort just days before the deaths of the Coopers.
Back in the UK, Mr McCormick was diagnosed as having both salmonella and shigella while his wife was told she was suffering from shigella. Their daughters were not tested because they felt better upon returning home.
Travel lawyer Simon Lomax at Simpson Millar solicitors, who is handling her claim along with other guests who have fallen ill in the past at the same hotel, said: ‘There appears to a serious problems with hygiene in the Hurghada area.
‘I have received calls from returning travellers stating that tour operators are handing out warning letters in resort about E.coli – but it’s a bit too late for that following the onset of illness.
‘Late notification could be seen as a deliberate ploy to prevent travellers from seeking to cancel or make alternative arrangements before departure. Tour operators need to be doing a lot more to reduce the risk of serious illness.’
A Thomas Cook spokesman said: ‘The safety and wellbeing of our customers is always our first priority and we take all reports of sickness very seriously.
‘Mrs McCormick has now made a legal claim which our team is looking into. The Steigenberger Aqua Magic hotel remains off sale to any of our customers, from the UK and the rest of Europe, indefinitely.’