British tourist left in unmarked grave after sudden illness at disease-ridden island resort

A British tourist was left in an unmarked grave after a sudden illness led to his death on holiday.

Retired forklift driver Colin Timson, 74, from Heighinton, near Lincoln, fell ill on the second day of his holiday in Cape Verde.

He was staying at the Riu Funana resort in Sal for a two-week trip with his wife Jacqueline, 69 in July 2024.

Mr Timson died later that evening, with his case being represented by law firm Irwin Mitchell - who represents the families of 10 people who died of gastric illnesses while on holidays booked through Tui.

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All of the families are now planning legal action against the travel firm.

A death certificate from Cape Verde authorities said his cause of death was dehydration, severe anaemia and septic shock caused by acute gastroenteritis and digestive bleeding, according to the law firm.

Mrs Timson, who also fell ill, shared her experience of being forced to leave her husband in an unmarked grave.

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."

Both Mrs Timson and her husband fell at the same time, but he took the illness worse and was "vomiting yellow sick", she said.

Mr Timson was taken to a medical clinic, then hospital, with Mrs Timson returning to the hotel to as she was told he "would be in safe hands".

She said: "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.

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"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."

The retired factory worker admitted she still couldn'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," she added.

Jatinder Paul, a serious injury lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, said it was "staggering" the number of families who have had their holidays ruined by illness.

He added: "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."

The law firm added that it now represents more than 2,500 people who complained of illnesses, including salmonella, E.coli and shigella after holidays in the West African country since the summer of 2022.

In a statement, a spokesman for Tui 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."

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