cruise passengers admitted to hospital

Following the admission to hospital in Sweden of seven elderly cruise ship passengers last week, two have tested positive for the Legionella bacterium (Legionnaires).

The seven passengers, all in their 70s and 80s fell ill on the luxury Baltic cruise. The ship returned to Britain early following the reported illnesses. The ship was carrying some 760 passengers.

To date, tests upon the ship, ‘Black Watch’ have not shown signs of the bacteria and the cruise liner’s operator has said that the ship was not the source of infection. The company has offered partial compensation but for all passengers, their trip has been cut short

Nevertheless, the Health Protection Authority has been carrying out cleansing and super-chlorination of the ship in the Kent port involving full chlorination of the water system, and sanitisation of the ship's shower heads, saunas and swimming pools.

Of the incident, Nish Kanwar, partner at Blake Lapthorn said

"This is a very serious and potentially life threatening situation. It can only be hoped that all affected had adequate travel insurance coverage to deal with treatment required, repatriation if necessary and damages they are entitled to."

At Blake Lapthorn, our specialist Travel team is able to offer advice and assistance in a huge variety of travel claims. If you would like to discuss any of the issues raised in this article, please do contact Nish Kanwar on 020 7814 5483 or email nish.kanwar@bllaw.co.uk.