Hundreds of Dutch tourists fall ill in Macedonia

Dozens of Dutch tourists are spending their holiday in Macedonia in the bathroom rather than at the pool or the beach. A mysterious virus from the nearby Skopje has two-thirds of the Dutch tourists in the Izgrev Spa & Aqua Park in Ohrid stuck in their hotel rooms.

Rina Top-Bouwer, whose daughter is there, confirmed this to the Telegraaf. According to her, the symptoms are vomiting and diarrhea. "The dining room is almost empty. Everywhere people are alone at the table, because the rest of their companions are lying in bed."

Koen van Besouw, who arrived at the hotel with his family on Friday, told the same story to NOS. "In the breakfast room I saw only a few people sitting at the tables. All of them Dutch. When I asked what was going on, it turned out that everyone had diarrhea and was vomiting." he said. "About 80 percent of the Dutch in this hotel are ill at the moment." This family did not escape the virus either. Koen's two children fell sick on Saturday, with him and his girlfriend following on Sunday. "We are now four days later and we haven't been able to enjoy a single moment of our holiday."

The hotel has room for about 700 guests, 332 of them are Dutch tourists who traveled through travel agency Corendon. So far only about 20 people reported to the company that they were sick. All of them were treated for diarrhea. CEO Atilay Uslu told the Telegraaf that the virus has to do with "something in the pool". "But I'm not a doctor", he added. The travel company sent two employees to the hotel on Tuesday to assess the situation and talk to the guests.