A British widow has revealed she was forced to bury her husband in an unmarked grave in Cape Verde after he fell gravely ill and passed away while on holiday there. Law firm Irwin Mitchell confirmed it now represents more than 2,500 individuals who have reported falling ill – with conditions including salmonella, E.coli and shigella – following holidays in the West African nation since the summer of 2022.
Among those represented are the families of 10 people who lost their lives to gastric illnesses while on holidays booked through Tui, the law firm stated. All are pursuing legal action against the travel operator.
Retired forklift driver Colin Timson, 74, from Heighington, near Lincoln, fell ill on the second day of his £2,000 two-week stay at the Riu Funana resort in Sal in July 2024. His wife Jacqueline, 69, revealed she discovered him collapsed the following morning.
Mr Timson passed away in hospital later that evening, with a death certificate issued by the Cape Verde authorities citing his cause of death as dehydration, severe anaemia and septic shock caused by acute gastroenteritis and digestive bleeding, according to the law firm. Mrs Timson, who also became unwell, said she was left with no choice but to bury her husband in an unmarked grave just three days after his death.
She said: "We'd been to Cape Verde before and were looking forward to returning. However, when we arrived at the hotel we didn't feel it was the same standard we'd found on our previous holiday to Cape Verde."
"Some of the food appeared to be undercooked and was lukewarm. The toilets round the pool were full of dead cockroaches and we didn't go in the pool because the water looked yellow. We both fell ill at the same time but I wasn't as bad as Colin, who was vomiting yellow sick.
"When he left the clinic to go to hospital I went back to the hotel as I was told Colin would be in safe hands and to visit him the following day. I didn't even know he'd died until I arrived at the hospital the following day.
When I heard the news my world fell apart. "Everything was a blur but I believed I didn't have adequate travel insurance, and I thought it would have been too expensive to fly Colin home. I was told that there wasn't an option to have a cremation in Cape Verde so I had to watch helplessly as he was buried."
The retired factory worker went on to say: "I still can't comprehend how we went on holiday together but Colin never came home. The hardest thing is that I couldn't even bring his ashes home to be alongside me. Instead, he's buried in an unmarked grave, alone, thousands of miles away from his family."
In June 2024, Laurence Brownlie, 67, a retired IT engineer from West Calder in West Lothian, Scotland, travelled to the five-star Meliá Llana Beach Resort and Spa in Cape Verde alongside his wife, Glenna, 66, for a fortnight's holiday when he fell seriously unwell. Three days afterwards, Mr Brownlie collapsed at a dinner table and subsequently died, with a death certificate issued by the Cape Verde authorities attributing it to a suspected heart attack.
His relatives have raised concerns about conditions at the resort, including reports of flies in food and the lack of a defibrillator, the law firm stated.
His daughter Erin, 34, said: "It remains difficult not to think how dad should have been coming home with mum at the end of their holiday. Instead, our family was left devastated and trying to come to terms with losing him so suddenly in such traumatic circumstances.
"I can't imagine how harrowing it must have been for my mum seeing her soulmate pass away in front of her.
"We'll forever be grateful to those in the hotel who tried to help dad but what happened has left us with so many unanswered questions. Nothing will ever take away the pain of knowing he died so far from home.
"As well as grieving for dad, we had to deal with the shock of flying out to be with mum, not being able to see him, and then facing the journey of bringing him back to Scotland. It's something no family should ever have to go through."
Tui, Riu Hotels and Resorts and Meliá Hotels and Resorts were all contacted for comment by Press Association.
In a statement, a Tui spokesperson said: "Our thoughts remain with both families. As we would for any family facing a serious incident or bereavement while travelling with us, Tui's local representatives offered support and assistance in resort at the time.
"Neither family raised any complaint or concern with Tui, either during their holiday or after returning home, and Tui received no communication about either case until today, when we were contacted by media.
"As this is now a legal matter, it would not be appropriate for us to comment further."
Jatinder Paul, serious injury lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, said: "It's staggering that we continue to be contacted by hundreds more people reporting how their holidays have been ruined by serious illness.
"Nothing brings the impact of these incidents into sharper focus than the deaths of British holidaymakers. The first-hand accounts from those who have lost loved ones are not only incredibly stark but harrowing.
"Our focus is now on securing our clients the answers they deserve and, where needed, either the support they require to come to terms with their loss or the specialist rehabilitation they require to try and overcome the impact of their illnesses the best they can."
