More than 100 of the 800 guests at the four-star Izan Cavanna Hotel in the popular resort of La Manga near Murcia, Spain have fallen ill with what’s believed to be salmonella
More than 100 tourists, including a 15-month-old baby and seven children, have fallen ill with suspected salmonella poisoning at a hotel in Spain, with dodgy fish speculated to be the culprit.
The youngsters were among 20 people rushed to hospital following the drama at the four-star Izan Cavanna Hotel in the popular resort of La Manga near Murcia. A field hospital was also set up at the seafront hotel after guests went down with tell-tale symptoms including nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and in some cases fever following Saturday lunch at the hotel.
The initial alert referenced 28 cases, but by yesterday the number of people with health problems had jumped to over 100 of the 800 guests believed to be staying at the hotel. The baby and children understood to be among those affected were taken to Santa Lucia Hospital in the nearby port city of Cartagena with symptoms including fevers.
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Health inspectors have taken samples from the kitchen at the hotel, which has now been closed, as part of an ongoing investigation. Regional government health sources said overnight they were treating it as a probable salmonella poisoning outbreak.
It was not immediately clear how many British and Irish holidaymakers are staying at the hotel, which describes itself online as one of the most emblematic hotels on Spain’s Costa Calida. It has a buffet restaurant now under investigation and a beach bar and restaurant as well as an English pub – which the hotel website is saying is temporarily closed.
The hotel published a Facebook post advertising its cocktails and mojitos early yesterday – but said nothing about its guests’ health problems on the social media site. In response a Spanish holidaymaker staying at the hotel replied: “Hello, I am still staying in room 826, and yesterday more than 40 people were affected by food poisoning from a spoiled product at the buffet.
“I am at the Santa Lucia Hospital in Cartagena because my wife is one of those affected and she is eight months pregnant and has been admitted to the hospital. I left the hotel at 4.30am on Sunday. I spoke with the hotel at 9am to inform them of the seriousness of the situation and my wife’s delicate condition, and now it is 2.20pm and I still haven’t received a call from anyone at the hotel.
“My belongings and my wife’s belongings are still in the room, as we have a reservation until Monday. I’m calling the hotel and no one is answering the phone at this time of day. We need answers.”
Several guests have pointed the finger at a fish dish as well as a spinach-filled pasta dish served at the hotel’s buffet restaurant on Saturday, although officials have not said which meal could be the issue.
Several ambulances were filmed arriving and leaving the hotel from Saturday afternoon onwards, with subsequent reports pointing to some holidaymakers being put on rehydration drips in their rooms while others were laid out on stretchers in hotel corridors. One guest, a Spanish woman identified only as Susan, told a local paper: “The hospital discharged my 15-year-old daughter when was still suffering from fever and dehydration.
“We found her alone in the car park, weak and dizzy. She’s worse than she was before.” She went on to point the finger at a sauce the teenager had eaten with her spinach ravioli at the hotel buffet at lunchtime on Saturday.
Another guest said her friend had been unable to leave her room from Saturday night onwards. She said: “She started to feel unwell after lunch and at dinnertime because she had a stomach ache she only ate a yoghurt.
“We think it’s something to do with the fish because there were four of us at lunch but she was the only one that ate it. The rest of us ate meat and we’re fine.” A number of families with children are said to have already left the hotel early after registering official complaints at reception.
The hotel, which has a 3.4 rating out of five on Tripadvisor, has been the subject of numerous reviews, many of which claimed there was poor quality at the establishment. In one 2-star review, one tourist said: “The buffet? Long lines, school cafeteria vibes, tasteless food, and drinks not even included. Despite having half board, we refused to eat there again. The dinner experience was loud, cramped, and deeply unpleasant.”
A one-star review claimed there were cockroaches in the bathroom and added: “It is an old hotel, old facilities, tasteless food and for the elderly, Service unfriendly management and without giving solutions to cockroaches in the bathroom of the room.”
Another continued: “I personally have been very disappointed with the hotel!! the oldest rooms of the Frankish era, the food is hardly variety sincerely and the bland hotel has no animation as in other hotels I have been there are no activities for the children not anything anyway I don’t think I will repeat here again.”
New Sunday arrivals have claimed they were not informed about the problems when they arrived and had a buffet lunch at the hotel before it was subsequently closed. Salmonella poisoning effects typically include sudden diarrhoea, fever and abdominal cramps which appear between six hours and six days after infection and can last four to seven days.
In some cases, more severe symptoms like bloody diarrhoea or high fever occur, requiring medical attention. Serious complications, though rare, can involve the infection spreading from the intestines to the bloodstream, causing severe illness or leading to long-term issues like reactive arthritis.
The hotel has yet to publish any official comment on its Instagram, Facebook or website. It says of its buffet restaurant on its official website: “We offer a wide and tempting selection of dishes from our healthy Mediterranean cuisine, as well as products and dishes representative of other European cuisines.”