A FAMILY-OF-FOUR say they fell seriously ill with food poisoning at the same Egyptian hotel where a British couple died under mysterious circumstances.
Sarah and Thomas McCormick paid £5,000 to take their children Paige, 15, and Lexi, nine, to the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel in Hurghada, Egypt in August last year.
But they claim their two-week break turned into the holiday from hell after the family, from Wimborne, Dorset, fell ill with Salmonella and the intestinal disease Shigella.
Book-keeper Mrs McCormick, 37, said former army corporal Thomas, 42, was left ‘curled up in a ball of pain’ as a result of his extreme sickness and that she feared he would die.
She added: “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.”
Just days after the family returned to the UK, John Cooper, 69, and his wife Susan, 63, from Burnley, Lancashire, died after falling sick in the same hotel.
A post-mortem by Egyptian authorities linked their deaths to E. Coli, but tests run by British coroners proved inconclusive.
In May, a pre-inquest hearing at Preston Coroner's Court heard that toxic chemicals or a biological agent in their room may have killed the couple.
Their daughter Kelly Ormerod, 40, told The Sun she would 'leave no stone unturned' to uncover what happened to them.
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.
Mrs McCormick has now launched legal action against Thomas Cook, which the travel company has confirmed they are looking into.
A spokesman said the wellbeing of their customers is their "first priority" and they take any reports of sickness "very seriously".
Mrs McCormick 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.”
Describing what happened on their fateful holiday, Mrs McCormick said there were red flags from the start.
She said: “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 drink and it was because they were too ill to drink alcohol.”
The mum-of-two also alleges that she saw waiters put their fingers in guests drinks to carry them, poor food hygiene and witnessed workers clean algae from the pool with dirty cloths.
She claimed that three days into the holiday Mr McCormick fell sick with stomach cramps, sickness and diarrhoea, and she and their two daughters also soon succumbed to the same symptoms.
Paige and Mr McCormick became so ill they needed to be put on a drip – but the local doctor snapped a needle in half trying to insert it into his vein.
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 rep before leaving the resort just days before the deaths of the Coopers.
In a statement, Thomas Cook 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.”
Source: Read Full Article