Irwin Mitchell are acting for over 1000 holidaymakers whose holidays were ruined by a major outbreak of illnesses including Shigella and Salmonella at a Dominican Republic hotel. The case is primarily being pursued against some of the UK's largest Tour Operators, including First Choice, Thomson, My Travel and Thomas Cook. Whilst First Choice and Thomson have not admitted liability, Thomas Cook and My Travel have conceded liability for over 400 cases, and have settled over 500.
Of the clients whose cases settled (who travelled with either Thomas Cook or its subsidiary My Travel), all fell ill while at the hotel in San Juan with a range of illnesses including Shigella, Giardia, Salmonella, Amoebic Dysentery, and E Coli. Many of them needed medical treatment, at least 29 were hospitalised - five after they got back to the UK - and more than 200 still suffer long-term effects two years after flying home.
Leading national firm Irwin Mitchell have welcomed the settlement with two major UK tour operators, one of the largest ever for a holiday case, but said all travel firms had to learn lessons from to ensure that an outbreak of this kind, which lasted several months, could never happen again.
Hundreds of tourists were struck down by serious illness and dozens of guests were taken to hospital in ambulances, with Irwin Mitchell at the time calling for tour operators to stop sending holidaymakers to the hotel as the problem escalated.
The law firm's clients, including 12 couples whose honeymoons were ruined by sickness, were all guests at the four-star all-inclusive Caribbean resort between January and August 2007.
The problems at the Bahia Principe Hotel - which has a history of illness among guests - began in early 2007 and continued throughout most of the year as more guests arrived from the UK, with the Dominican Republic Minister for Public Health, Bautista Rojas, confirming in August that year that tourists had become ill due to contaminated foodstuffs.
As the problems mounted and more UK travellers fell ill, one plane flying back from the Dominican Republic was quarantined at Gatwick while another landing at the same airport was boarded by doctors. Other Bahia Principe guests landing at Manchester needed treatment from doctors on the plane before they could disembark.
Furious guests included those whose weddings, honeymoons, anniversaries and birthday celebrations were ruined, with many tourists describing the hotel as being like a casualty ward, with fleets of ambulances ferrying poorly guests to hospital day after day.
We previously brought an action on behalf of 100 clients who suffered illness at the same hotel in 1997. To read more, click here.
For more information about making a claim following the Bahia Principe illness outbreak, either call 0800 056 0066 or fill in our enquiry form.