‘People are dropping like flies’: British children lie in hospital on drips beside worried parents after sickness sweeps five-star Turkish resort: Multiple families fall ill at TUI holiday destination where dozens suffered food poisoning over Easter

• EXCLUSIVE: Two eight-year-olds on IV drips after diarrhea, mothers say
• Newlywed described ‘honeymoon from hell’ with guests forking out thousands
• Families have racked up thousands in medical bills and demand compensation

British children are on IV drips in Turkish hospitals after falling ill at a five-star TUI resort, with one little girl’s worried mother saying she has suffered seizures and guests said to be ‘dropping like flies’. 

The Rixos Sungate Resort saw a spate of food poisonings over the Easter holidays, and now TUI is investigating as Brits staying at the resort for half term have reported horrendous new symptoms.

Jenny Hopkins, from Bagshot, Surrey, told MailOnline her eight-year-old daughter was passing green diarrhea and became so dehydrated she began ‘fitting’.

She was rushed to the Medical Park Antalya Hospital, where she has been since Thursday, and has so far been on nine IV drips, Jenny said.

The mother-of-two said TUI has done very little to help and that she and her husband, James, have had to fork out £3,000 in medical bills so far.

Another mother claimed she was told her daughter’s faeces contained bacteria ‘like salmonella’, and that doctors told her ‘lots of people’ at the all-inclusive hotel had come down with a similar illness.

Video seen by MailOnline shows multiple people being treated in the hotel’s medical centre. Guests have also reported being confined to their rooms ‘in agony’, with one newlywed saying his holiday has turned into the ‘honeymoon from hell’. 

Jenny Hopkins’ little girl was rushed to hospital and has been on nine IV drips, her mother says

Eight-year-old Chloe is on a drip after suffering from ‘severe vomitting, diarrhea, and being unable to keep water down’, her mother Linda Leitch says

The Rixos Sungate Resort saw a spate of food poisonings over the Easter holidays, and is now facing fresh allegations

Terry Hawkins, said suspected food poisoning had turned his holiday into the ‘honeymoon from hell’

Linda Leitch, one of the distraught mothers whose eight-year-old was rushed to hospital after suffering from dehydration, described the situation at the luxury resort as ‘carnage’.

The Leitch family, from Chatham, Kent, say they spent £5,000 on their dream trip, only for their youngest daughter to come down with what Linda believes is food poisoning. 

Linda said her daughter started feeling ill at 2am on Thursday, and was being ‘violently sick’, with ‘severe stomach cramps’ and a ‘really really high temperature’.

‘We are putting it down to the deserts she ate or the beef because it’s the only thing she ate and we didn’t’.

Chloe was put on a drip in the hotel’s clinic after ‘severe vomitting, diarrhea, and being unable to keep water down’, but her family decided she needed an ambulance at 4am on Friday after a night of being ‘not very responsive’. 

The family say they went to reception in the early hours on Friday after the hotel said they would get them an ambulance. 

Half an hour later, they claim, they were told they had to sort out the ambulance themselves, with Chloe not getting to hospital until 10.30am.

Linda said Chloe is far from the only person who has been taken ill, and that she was told by doctors at the Medical Park Antalya Hospital that the illness had affected ‘lots of people’ at Rixos Sungate.

She said that on Thursday, she had seen an older man and even one-year-old baby hooked up to drips in the hotel’s medical centre. 

‘We took her to the hotel clinic and it is obvious that people are dropping like flies, it was carnage’.

‘There are lots of people laying on beds with drips with the same problems. They are all being sick everywhere, they have all got diarrhea. It is clear to see there is a major problem here,’ she said.

‘Again, there were loads of people there. A baby, say about one, and a little boy next to us about six or seven years old.

Linda Leitch, 45, with her husband Paul Leitch, 47, and their daughters, 10-year-old Caitlin and Chloe, 8, who has been taken ill

‘A man almost collapsed in the waiting area, and there was three women I could see on drips and that was today’.

Speaking on Thursday, Linda slammed TUI and the hotel’s response. ‘I spoke to a TUI rep this morning and he just took our details. 

‘I spoke to guest services last night in the hotel, that was a joke. She was trying to tell me it was the changing weather and the rain water in the pool, I just laughed at her.

‘They are just saying anything but food poisoning. The TUI rep was a bit more understanding, taking all my details. He said TUI are looking into it, TUI are speaking to the manager, taking samples of the food. 

Linda says she has since spoken to TUI UK about possibly relocating the family, but that Chloe is too ill to relocate or fly home as it stands. 

She said the tour operator told her there were only ‘isolated incidents’ and that if it was the food causing her daughter’s illness ‘everybody would be ill’.

‘I disagree with that and I think everybody else [who has been affected] will.’ 

The family is due to fly back to Gatwick next Thursday. Linda has asked TUI if they can fly home early, but said she was told that it would not be covered and they could only get new flights at their own expense.

Jenny, another concerned mother whose daughter is on an IV, explained how her little girl was struck down soon after the family’s first dinner at the resort.

‘We got here early hours of Tuesday fit and healthy then after dinner Tuesday night my youngest daughter started being sick and had upset tummy. 

‘She was constantly sick all through night and next day so when she started getting a really high temperature Wednesday night we went to the clinic next door they put her on two drips and an injection in her bottom’. 

Jenny’s youngest initially appeared to be much better, but soon took a turn for the worse. 

Terry told MailOnline he had saved up ‘for a while’ for the special holiday, but that he and his wife Sarah have ‘been stuck in our hotel room in agony’. Pictured on their way to the holiday

‘All through the night she was pooping green water so took her back this morning again another drip. 

‘My husband then took her to toilet while at the clinic and she had a fit, maybe due to being so dehydrated she has never fitted before that’s when the clinic said she needed to go to hospital. 

‘She is still there now with my husband and will be there for a couple of days they have said.’

Another guest, Terry Hawkins, said suspected food poisoning had turned his holiday into the ‘honeymoon from hell’, after he and his new wife were left languishing in their hotel room for the whole trip. 

Terry told MailOnline he had saved up ‘for a while’ for the special holiday, but that he and his wife Sarah have ‘been stuck in our hotel room in agony with our seven month old baby crying and 11 year old son bored’. 

The couple from Liverpool arrived to Rixos Sungate early on Monday, with Sarah falling ill the next day. She started vomiting and Terry began to display symptoms later that evening.

The Rixos Sungate (pictured) is a five-star rated resort in Turkey where families spend as much as £4,000 on TUI package holidays

‘I tried to call a doctor through the hotel but they hung up on me,’ he said, suggesting that a language barrier might have been an issue.

‘After trying again we got a visit from a doctor who gave myself and my wife an injection then charged me €610. They didn’t say a cost beforehand. Then they told me my insurance wouldn’t cover it as it was in our hotel room,’ he explained. 

Terry also said that the TUI rep had been of little help and that he had struggled to communicate with him. Sarah has since moved to the hotel’s clinic.

The groom said he ‘100 per cent’ expects compensation from TUI, saying they had ‘barely had a full day’ at the resort before their holiday turned into a nightmare.

MailOnline has spoken to more guests at the hotel who say their family members have been struck down with severe symptoms. 

Accor, the hotel group that runs Rixos Sungate, has been contacted for comment. 

TUI said in a statement: ‘We are aware of some isolated cases of illness in the Rixos Sungate Hotel in Antalya, Turkey. 

‘Our team at resort are in close contact with our customers and offering support where necessary.

‘Our health and safety team are investigating in close collaboration with the hotel and we will remain in frequent contact with our customers.’

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