TUI agrees settlement with Sousse terror attack survivors and relatives

British travel operator TUI has agreed to settle a compensation case with survivors and relatives of victims of the 2015 Sousse beach terror attack in Tunisia.

The settlement, for an undisclosed sum, was reached ‘without admission of liability or fault’ by TUI with a collective of 80 survivors and relatives of victims of the attack.

The attack, which claimed the lives of 38 people, including 30 Britons, was carried out by Seifeddine Rezgui at the Riu Imperial Marhaba hotel complex on 26 June 2015.

The claimants argued that TUI had failed to guarantee the safety of the victims

At an inquest in London in 2017, legal counsel for the families of victims suggested that lives could have been saved if TUI had carried out a security audit before the attack. All 30 British victims of the attack had booked their trip to the resort through TUI. TUI came under scrutiny during the inquest over its handling of Foreign Office travel advice for Tunisia.

Subsequent to the inquest, the families launched a civil claims lawsuit for damages estimated at £10 million through law firm Irwin Mitchell, claiming that warnings of an imminent terrorist attack had been ignored.

A joint statement issued following the agreement of the settlement by TUI and Irwin Mitchell, said: “Tui has worked collaboratively with the claimants and their representatives, Irwin Mitchell, to reach a settlement without admission of liability or fault and in recognition of the wholly exceptional circumstances of the case, and in the hope that it will go some way to assisting the claimants.

“Tui has always expressed heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of those caught up in the terrorist attack that day and continue to extend deepest sympathy. The claimants have fought tirelessly to understand how the attack happened and to seek to ensure that lessons have been learned so that other families are not affected by similar tragedy.”

TUI began offering package holidays to Tunisia again in 2018, three years after the attack. Despite this, Foreign and Commonwealth Office travel advice still warns that ‘terrorists are very likely to try to carry out attacks in Tunisia and there have been a number of attacks in recent years.’