"I thought I was dying": Mass food poisoning at an all-inclusive hotel
A medical drama at a popular resort town after dozens of guests suffered from severe symptoms, including a pregnant woman and children who were evacuated to the hospital. Health inspectors raided the kitchen and uncovered a severe sanitary failure.
What was supposed to be a calm summer vacation in an all-inclusive format turned into a medical nightmare for dozens of guests at the NEKO hotel, located in the resort town of Saturn on the Black Sea coast in Romania. Yesterday, Tuesday, severe symptoms of vomiting, nausea, and intense abdominal pain developed among dozens of the hotel's children and adults almost simultaneously.
The summer vacation turned within a few hours into a medical drama that caused heavy anxiety among the vacationers. The severe symptoms appearing simultaneously in dozens of guests created a feeling of complete helplessness; one of the guests described the frightening moments, stating that because of the pain and suffering, he thought he was going to die. The mass panic and the rapid deterioration in the condition of the guests led to the mobilization of medical forces and the activation of the local emergency protocol.
Following the reports, the country's emergency authorities were forced to activate the red protocol intended for mass casualty incidents. A total of 58 vacationers, including 11 children, required urgent medical assistance. While most of the victims were treated on-site, six people, including a pregnant woman and two children, were evacuated for further treatment at the infectious diseases hospital in Constanta.
In parallel with providing first aid, inspectors from the district's Consumer Protection Authority raided the hotel's central kitchen, where a series of severe sanitary failures were exposed. The inspectors discovered that the refrigerators were operating at a temperature of almost 16 degrees Celsius, conditions far from ensuring food safety. The inspectors confiscated over 523 kilograms of products found unfit for consumption and imposed cumulative fines on the hotel management totaling about 75,000 shekels, alongside an official recommendation to shut down the establishment's operations for six months.
An embarrassing discovery revealed that just a few hours before the mass outbreak, a separate sanitary inspection was held in the kitchen, during which the head chef was fined. Guests at the hotel claimed that upon the arrival of the medical and inspection teams, the employees rushed to get rid of the food scraps and throw them into the trash.
On the other hand, the kitchen manager rejected the accusations and claimed that the food being cleared was intended for staff only, while raising an alternative theory that the guests fell ill due to a combination of cold drinks and hot food.
Health authorities in Romania have opened a comprehensive epidemiological investigation and took laboratory samples of the food. Following the failure, it was clarified that the hospitalized guests and their families will receive a full refund for their stay, while the rest of the affected guests are offered a choice between compensation for the cost of meals or a full refund for the entire vacation.
The case at the NEKO hotel serves as a painful reminder that even an all-inclusive vacation can turn in one moment into a prolonged medical nightmare. While the authorities in Romania are working to prosecute the hotel management and tighten enforcement in the field of food sanitation, for the dozens of families who arrived to enjoy themselves, the bitter taste of this sanitary disaster will stay with them long after the financial compensation is deposited into their accounts.
