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Four British people have died within four months after being struck down with stomach bugs while on holiday in Cape Verde, lawyers representing their families have said.
Mark Ashley, 55, of Bedfordshire, Elena Walsh, 64, from Birmingham, Karen Pooley, 64, of Gloucestershire, and a 56-year-old man all died last year after contracting gastric illnesses while on the islands off the west African coast.
They are four of six Britons who died after holidays there since January 2023, and law firm Irwin Mitchell said the six families were making personal injury claims against holiday firm Tui.
Tui said it was investigating the claims, adding it provided support to customers who reported feeling unwell.
Ashley’s wife Emma, 55, said her family were in “complete shock” over his death.
The law firm said investigations into the deaths were “ongoing”, and it was also representing more than 1,500 people who had fallen ill after visits to the country.
Mark Ashley (top left) died when he was back in the UK and his wife says her family has been left in shock [PA Media]
Three days into their holiday in October, Ashley fell ill with symptoms including stomach pain, diarrhoea, vomiting, fever and extreme lethargy, Irwin Mitchell said.
The firm said it was representing the families of the six people who had died and more than 1,500 people who had fallen ill after visits to the archipelago, which is west of Mauritania and Senegal.
Emma Ashley said they booked their £3,000-plus trip with Tui, and said she reported her husband’s illness on the holiday firm’s app on 9 October.
She said she had raised concerns over the hygiene standards at the resort she stayed at on the island of Sal.
On their return, her husband’s symptoms continued for some time, his wife said.
After collapsing at home in Houghton Regis, the 55-year-old, who had diabetes, which was controlled through medication, was taken to hospital on 12 November and was confirmed dead minutes later.
His death has been referred to the coroner, Irwin Mitchell said.
Part-time nurse and mother Elena Walsh (second from left) died in August after falling ill while staying at the Riu Cabo Verde resort on Sal [PA Media]
Part-time nurse and mother Elena Walsh died in August 2025 after falling ill while staying at a resort on Sal.
Karen Pooley, from Lydney, travelled with a friend to Sal on 7 October for a fortnight’s holiday costing £3,000 and booked through Tui, the law firm said.
The retired mother-of-two became sick on 11 October with gastric symptoms including diarrhoea, and the next day she slipped on water leaking from a fridge while going to the bathroom.
She was transferred to a local clinic and over the next four days she continued to experience diarrhoea and vomiting along with severe pain from her fractured femur.
She was airlifted north-east to Tenerife in the Canary Islands for urgent care on 16 October and died in the early hours of the next day, lawyers said.
Karen Pooley’s husband Andy, 62, said the family was “utterly heartbroken. Karen was the kindest, loveliest person” [PA Media]
Her husband Andy, 62, said: “We’re utterly heartbroken.”
He said his wife appeared to be in “significant distress” when the family video-called her from home, and claimed communication from the clinic and their holiday provider was poor.
“We’re devastated and struggling to understand how she went on holiday and never came home,” he said.
Irwin Mitchell said Pooley’s initial death certificate, issued by the Cape Verde authorities, said she died of multi-organ failure, sepsis, cardio-respiratory arrest and a broken left leg.
The law firm has not given further details of the 56-year-old man who has died.
The other two Britons who died since 2023 were Jane Pressley, 62, of Gainsborough in Lincolnshire, who died in January three years ago after falling ill while holidaying on Sal the previous November.
A man in his 60s from Watford, who the law firm is not identifying, died in November 2024 after suffering gastric illness following a trip to Cape Verde.
Jatinder Paul, serious injury lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, said: “The number of holiday makers to Cape Verde being struck down with serious and debilitating gastric illnesses is truly staggering.
“I’ve never seen repeated and continued illness outbreaks at the same resorts on such a scale over such a period of time.”
Tui, which provides package holidays to Cape Verde, said that as the cases were now represented by Irwin Mitchell it was unable to comment further, but it was fully investigating the claims being made.
The firm said it had taken more than a million people to the islands since 2022, and provided support to any customers who reported feeling unwell.
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