Cruise bug victim fears hellish return by coach (From Echo)

Cruise bug victim fears hellish return by coach

5:00pm Thursday 9th July 2009 in

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A FORMER Castle Point councillor and his partner are among the hundreds trapped on the ship at the centre of a vomiting bug outbreak.

Lionel Hart and Maureen Gecsek, who are both retired and live on Canvey, are among the 380 passengers and crew on the Marco Polo to have shown symptoms of norovirus. They are being treated on board for sickness and diarrhoea.

The ship had been touring the British Isles since Saturday, but was forced to cut short its voyage by docking in Invergordon, Scotland, on Monday.

Mr Hart, a former Conservative councillor for Canvey East, phoned Castle Point MP Bob Spink yesterday morning to ask him to object to plans to put sick passengers on coaches back to London.

Mr Spink raised the issue in the House of Commons yesterday afternoon.

He told the Speaker: “The NHS Highland want to force passengers to travel to London on dozens of coaches, on a ten-hour journey without sufficient toilets.

“Passengers want the ship to return to Tilbury immediately.

“Most are being cared for very well in their cabins.

“How can we ensure this matter is dealt with in the best interests of passengers?”

Mr Spink told the Echo: “What they are suggesting is madness.

“These people have already been through a terrible ordeal and the last thing they need is a horror coach journey, fighting over one loo.”

Five passengers are being treated in hospital for sickness and diarrhoea, and Roy Sillett, 74, from Norwich, died of a suspected heart attack on board the ship on Monday.

Jo Young, communications officer for NHS Highland, said: “We have offered advice from a health perspective, but it is up to the tour operator on what to do next.

“They are talking to passengers about what would be the best thing to do.

“I think they are looking at whether they will sail again, whether they will fly them out, or whether they will go by road.

“It will all depend on how well the passengers are feeling.”

Hayley Hope, a spokesman for tour operator Transocean Tours, of Bremen, said arrangements would be made for all passengers who are fit to travel to disembark and go home at the “earliest opportunity”.

But she could not say how soon that might be.

She said that several options on how to repatriate the passengers are being considered.