The Tui Cape Verde lawsuit is a group action in the English High Court brought by more than 1,700 British holidaymakers who say they contracted serious gastric illnesses, and in at least eight cases lost family members, after staying at Tui-partnered resorts on the islands of Sal and Boa Vista between 2022 and 2025. The claims are being run by law firm Irwin Mitchell, which has called it one of the largest package holiday illness cases ever brought. Tui denies liability. A six-week trial has been listed for the end of 2027.
Which Resorts and Illnesses Are Involved
The earliest large cluster involved around 300 holidaymakers who reported gastric illness after staying at the Riu Palace Santa Maria on Sal during the summer of 2022. Reports continued to accumulate at other properties over the following years, including the Riu Funana, Riu Cabo Verde, Riu Karamboa, Melia Dunas, Suneo Dunas, and Tui Blue Cabo Verde.
The infections identified by claimants’ lawyers include salmonella, shigella, E. coli, and cryptosporidium. Evidence gathered by the firm points to undercooked food, buffets left exposed to flies, and mould in hotel rooms.
Deaths Linked to the Cape Verde Holidays
Irwin Mitchell says at least eight British citizens have died in connection with illnesses contracted on Cape Verde holidays since January 2023. Named victims include:
- Jane Pressley, 62, who died in January 2023 after falling ill during a stay at the Riu Palace Santa Maria in late 2022.
- Elena Walsh, 64, who died in August 2025 after staying at the Riu Cabo Verde on Sal.
- Karen Pooley, 64, who fell ill at the Riu Funana on Sal in October 2025 and died on October 17, 2025, from sepsis and multi-organ failure after being transferred to a clinic in Tenerife.
- Mark Ashley, 55, who fell ill in October 2025 at the Riu Palace Santa Maria and died in November 2025. His death was referred to a coroner.
Further deaths include an unnamed man in his 60s who died in November 2024, an unnamed woman aged 71 who died in 2024, and two men in their 50s who died in late 2025, one of them a retired firefighter. Two of the deaths were linked to the Riu Karamboa on Boa Vista.
What Public Health Authorities Have Found
The UK Health Security Agency began investigating a spike in shigella sonnei infections among travelers returning from Cape Verde in late 2025. By April 2026, it had identified 112 confirmed shigella cases and 43 salmonella cases in British travelers since October 2025, with most patients having visited the Santa Maria and Boa Vista areas.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has tracked the problem more broadly. In a March 2026 update, the ECDC reported 766 confirmed and possible shigella cases tied to Cape Verde travel across 13 EU countries, the UK, and the United States since September 2022, plus more than 300 additional gastrointestinal infections including campylobacteriosis, giardiasis, and Shiga toxin-producing E. coli. The ECDC noted most patients had stayed at the same all-inclusive hotel chain in the Santa Maria region of Sal and assessed a “moderate” likelihood of new infections for visitors there.
Cape Verde’s Ministry of Health has disputed the picture of a crisis. As of February 2026, it stated there was “no epidemiological evidence confirming an active outbreak or a sustained change in the national health profile,” while confirming it had “activated technical investigations into allegations against private entities.” An initial local investigation reportedly found traces of shigella in irrigation water used for washing food, but the full report has not been published. Professor Brendan Wren of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has said the source of the outbreaks remains officially unknown, with contaminated borehole water considered a possible culprit.
The Legal Basis for the Claim
The claims turn on Tui’s obligations as the organizer of package holidays. Under the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018, a tour operator that combines and sells a package is liable for the performance of all travel services in the deal, even where those services are provided by third-party hotels or suppliers. The organizer must remedy any failure to meet the contract and can be required to pay compensation, including for personal injury, unless the problem was caused by the traveler, an unconnected and unforeseeable third party, or extraordinary circumstances beyond anyone’s control.
Irwin Mitchell alleges Tui failed to maintain reasonable cleanliness at hotels and swimming pools and allowed food to be undercooked, improperly stored, or reused in later meals. Partner Jatinder Paul, who specializes in international serious injury cases, told the BBC: “In all my years of doing this work, I have not seen a case this large and unfortunately so many that have died as a result of the illnesses.”
Where the Case Stands
Irwin Mitchell filed High Court proceedings against Tui UK Limited on behalf of 836 holidaymakers who fell ill in 2022, serving those claims in early 2025. According to the firm, Tui either expressly denied liability or failed to respond to the initial claims. The number of claimants had grown to more than 1,700 by April 2026, spanning outbreaks from 2022 through 2025.
A pretrial hearing for the group action involving the 300 Riu Palace Santa Maria claimants took place at the High Court in early February 2026 before Judge Master Mark Gidden. No substantive ruling has been reported from that hearing, but the judge scheduled a six-week trial for the end of 2027. Further group actions covering other hotels and later outbreaks are expected to be listed in the coming months. Irwin Mitchell has said that if claims cannot be resolved through negotiation, it expects a High Court order “which would involve payment of millions of pounds worth of damages.”
Tui’s Position
Tui has consistently denied liability. In a joint statement with Riu Hotels and Resorts, the company said both organizations were “deeply saddened” by the reported deaths and extended “sincere condolences to the families affected.” Tui has said customer health and safety is its “highest priority” and that it has “established procedures in place to support any customer who becomes unwell while on holiday, including access to appropriate medical care and assistance in resort.”
The company has also said it does “not yet have access to the full Cape Verde health report, which remains unpublished,” and that it continues to follow Foreign Office advice and to engage with hotel partners and relevant authorities. Riu Hotels and Resorts separately asserted that its Cape Verde properties “follow the strictest international health and hygiene standards.”
What Affected Travelers Should Know Before Settling
Paul has warned affected travelers against accepting early settlement offers from tour operators without independent legal advice. “Those affected by illness shouldn’t feel pressured into accepting early settlement offers from tour operators without understanding their full legal rights,” he said.
Tui has settled individual claims elsewhere. In June 2026, the company agreed to a five-figure settlement with Gary Cushnie, a 63-year-old from East Yorkshire who contracted Legionnaires’ disease at a Tui hotel in Cuba in 2022. Tui settled without admitting liability, citing its inability to access sufficient evidence after ceasing operations in Cuba.
How Past Cases Shape This One
English courts have already set out how package holiday illness claims are decided. In Wood v. Tui (2018), the courts established that a claimant must prove their illness resulted from unsatisfactory food or drink provided by the tour operator. The Court of Appeal’s decision in Griffiths v. Tui (2021) confirmed that judges are not required to accept expert evidence at face value simply because it goes unchallenged; the reasoning in the report must be sound enough to discharge the claimant’s burden of proof.
Morgan v. Tui (2020) clarified the standard of care. If a breach of local hygiene standards is shown, the tour operator’s duty of reasonable care is “almost inevitably” breached. Even where local standards are met, a court can still find liability if those local standards fall well below internationally accepted norms. Claimants do not necessarily have to point to a specific local regulation that was violated, provided they can offer other evidence of a failure to exercise reasonable care.