A terrible safari buggy disaster that saw a British mother and her 10-year-old son “thrown” down a cliff has left her hospitalised in Turkey and facing a £50,000 medical bill.
After her youngest, Leo, 5, was scheduled to go with his father, Rebekka Kelly, 30, decided to take her oldest son, Sonny, 10, on a TUI package vacation to Antalya, Turkey.
The vacation, however, rapidly took a turn for the worst when Ms. Kelly was taken to the hospital after a terrible accident.
A TUI representative helped Ms. Kelly and her kid make a reservation for a buggy safari excursion for September 2. However, their first buggy “failed,” so they were given a new one in its stead.
However, a severe event occurred when the buggy “flew down a cliff” due to issues with the steering wheel.
Ms. Kelly was “thrown out of the buggy” and passed out, according to her, adding that her seatbelt also broke.
After the accident, the mother had two major surgeries after breaking seven vertebra in her spine and pelvis and bleeding internally. She is still in the hospital after two weeks.
Ms. Kelly now worries that her insurance won’t pay for her and she faces medical expenses of more than £50,000, which adds to the anguish.
Merseyside resident Ms. Kelly stated: “I made my reservation with the TUI representative at the hotel and it was marketed with insurance protection. I have my own travel insurance, but because it is considered an off-road activity, it would not cover the accident.
We haven’t heard anything about whether I would be insured, despite the fact that the expedition was advertised as having insurance coverage.
“My sister-in-law has phoned every Harry, Dick, and Tom but is having no luck,” she said. I’m tired and all I want to do is go home.
Fortunately, Sonny’s seatbelt held him in the buggy when the steering failed and my seat belt failed to save me from falling out. I believe that if my seatbelt had done its job, I would not be hurt as badly as I am.
Sonny is back in the UK with him, “battered and wounded,” and very unhappy, according to Ms. Kelly’s brother Rocky.
Rocky added that they “simply don’t know what to do” as he tried to bring his sister home. Online, the vacation “advertises insurance as included,” the man said.
She has been in the hospital for two weeks, and Rocky said, “The hospital has been hounding her for money.” Although nothing has been planned, she was assured that she may return home this week by air ambulance.
They were lovely, don’t get me wrong, but the TUI excursion offers its own insurance protection as part of the bargain. She had her own travel insurance, but the fine print said that they weren’t protected for this accident.
She is not doing well. She is away from her two children and unable to get out of bed. We need to bring her back home so she can have more surgery in the UK, but TUI isn’t responding to us, and we can’t get through to anybody.
We have a lot of worries about her. We don’t have that amount of money, and TUI is facing this situation through no fault of her own. If TUI isn’t prepared to cover the insurance claim and the hospital expense, we are unsure of what we will do.
We won’t fully understand the extent of her injuries until she returns home, but they will undoubtedly affect her life. Sonny is in such emotional distress that he is sobbing.
We have made several phone calls to TUI, and although they are providing flights for us to see her, we have not received any word about insurance coverage.
“We have no idea what is coming in.” Why aren’t they assisting if it states in the advertisement that the price includes insurance? Rebekka is having a difficult time. She was knocked out, and she has no knowledge of how she got to the hospital.
Rocky continued by saying that he believes TUI has “neglected” the family and that they are concerned about how they will be able to gather the money to bring Rebekka back home.
An air ambulance costs about £20,000, according to Rocky. She was on vacation, and the people in charge of looking after her health abandoned her. She didn’t cause this accident, yet she was nonetheless left there.
“Nothing has been planned for her to go home; after she gets home, she also has to remain in the hospital.” A post that my partner made on Facebook received hundreds of responses from others who had similar experiences. Why are people’s lives being placed in danger when we’ve heard that people have died on this trip?
“We haven’t had a single contact from TUI clarifying anything, and we are quite concerned about Rebekka since her mental condition is worsening quickly,” they said. “We’ve been informed the medical cost alone is about £50,000.”
A GoFundMe campaign has been created to raise money to pay for Ms. Kelly’s medical expenses and travel back to the UK.