Brits among 60 injured in Spain hotel pool poisoning
At least 60 tourists, including Brits, were treated after a swimming pool chemical failure at a hotel in Benahavís near Marbella on Sunday. Investigators say a ruptured pressure pump that injects chlorine and acid likely released toxic gases; all hospital patients have since been discharged.
Key Takeaways
- More than 60 hotel guests in Benahavís on Spain's Costa del Sol needed urgent care after a pool-related poisoning on Sunday.
- British tourists were among those affected, alongside children and elderly guests.
- A ruptured chlorine-and-acid pressure pump is the lead line of inquiry after the dosing system failed.
- Costa del Sol Hospital treated at least 60 people; all have been discharged, while others were treated on site.
- The hotel closed its pool for maintenance as a Malaga lab van arrived and some guests consider complaints.
The scare unfolded at an unnamed hotel in Benahavís, a Costa del Sol town near Marbella, when guests fell ill after using the swimming pool. Local reporting from Sur in English and The Independent confirms Britons were among the dozens needing help.
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What happened at the hotel swimming pool?
Regional health sources say the differential tripped and the chlorine and pH systems stopped working, while other gases continued to come out. The probe currently centres on a rupture of the pressure pump that injects chlorine and acid into the water.
Pool poisonings can form when chlorine levels and pH are wrong, producing toxic substances that irritate eyes and mucous membranes and can cause respiratory or gastrointestinal problems. Guests described vague warnings about water trouble without a clear explanation at first.
Why were guests rushed to hospital?
Symptoms consistent with poisoning sent more than 60 tourists for urgent medical treatment. At least 60 people, including children and elderly visitors, were treated at Costa del Sol Hospital in Marbella.
An unspecified number were also treated at the hotel complex itself. Hospital officials later declined to comment further on the incident, according to Sur in English.
The Independent notes the episode came on the same day as a separate chlorine leak at a swimming pool in Italy, where nine people were poisoned and about 50 evacuated. That case is unrelated but underscores how pool chemical failures can escalate quickly.
What happens next for hotel guests?
Management closed the swimming pool after the incident. Guests who checked in on Monday morning were told the pool would stay shut all day for maintenance.
One new arrival questioned that timing in peak summer, noting maintenance is usually done in winter. SUR saw a van from Integralab, a Malaga PTA laboratory accredited for water and swimming-pool analysis, enter the premises.
Some guests are considering filing a complaint. A young Polish tourist staying at the hotel said they had only heard there were problems with the water and did not know what had happened.
Investigators continue to examine the failed dosing equipment. Until the pool reopens and findings are clearer, travellers on the Costa del Sol are left with a stark reminder that hotel water systems need reliable chemical controls.