A GROUP of Bolton pensioners struck down by a mystery holiday illness which killed one of them are still facing an anxious wait to discover what caused it.

One of the six elderly women died and two were taken into intensive care after the mystery bug hit on a two-week stay in the Spanish resort of Benidorm.

Elsie Ord, aged 77, of Old Hall Lane, Daisy Hill, was taken ill on holiday and died a week after returning home.

Her devastated only daughter Jacqueline was waiting today for the results of a post mortem on her mother.

She said: "We fear it could be legionnaires disease. We understand my mother suffered from the same symptoms.

"She had had a flu injection this winter and she had no other illnesses before this one. "She came home from the holiday and her chest was very bad. She found it difficult to breath."

Mrs Ord had been put on a course of antibiotics and had seemed to make a recovery but relapsed and died last Wednesday morning, March 10.

She had three grandchildren Alexander, Andrew and Adam.

Her 44-year-old daughter, who now lives in South Wales but was a PE teacher at Rivington and Blackrod High School, spoke of how her mother's shock death had affected her.

She said: "It was just a few days before Mother's Day, which made it doubly hard to accept. It was just a complete shock.

"Before the holiday she was fine and very much looking forward to it. But for this to happen, it's just terrible."

Ann Horrocks, of Park Road, Westhoughton, was rushed into intensive care in Benidorm on the last night of the two-week break. But she was well enough to be flown back to the UK during the weekend and is now recovering at home.

Annie Aldred, 80, of St James Street, Daisy Hill, was also rushed to the Royal Bolton Hospital days after returning home.

She is making a recovery and her family are anxiously waiting for the results of tests.

All three had been suffering severe chest infections which developed into pneumonia.

The other women on the trip were Margaret Davies, 68, of Tithe Barn Street, Edna Rothwell, 73, of Upper Lees Drive, and Isabel Fisher, 80, of Hollin Acre.

All the women are members of the Friendship Club which meets at Carnegie Hall.

They booked a holiday at the 318-room three star hotel Sol Ocas, 300m from Levante Beach with Direct Holidays.

But the £329 trip turned into a nightmare when all six of the women fell ill after the first week.

But Direct Holidays have denied there is anything wrong with the hotel and put the mystery illness down to a severe flu epidemic in the resort. A spokeswoman said: "These are very, very unfortunate circumstances. There is a flu bug about everywhere.

"Holiday makers are taking it with them and there is a massive flu epidemic in Benidorm with massive chest infections. It has nothing to do with the hotel."

She added the company's resort manager had been fully aware of Mrs Horrocks' illness and the company had kept her son informed in the UK.

She also said the company was expecting to make a report on the incident.

Dr Robert Aston, consultant in communicable disease control with Wigan and Bolton Health Authority, said results of initial tests had proved negative for legionnaires disease.

He said: "There is no public health implication on the evidence we have so far."

Today another Bolton woman told how she spent most of her two-week holiday at the Pelicanos hotel suffering from breathing difficulties, coughing and sickness.

Mary Naylor, aged 55, of Sandhill Close, Great Lever, said: "I had terrible breathing problems and was coughing all the time and kept being sick.

"While we were there someone collapsed in the dining room and another lady's husband was taken to intensive care in the local hospital." Even more concerning for Mrs Naylor and her husband, Alfred, was the news circulating in the hotel that an elderly woman had died a few days before they arrived.

Mrs Naylor added: "We have been to Benidorm each January for the last seven years and never had any problems until now.

"I don't know whether I will go back again after this."

Since Mrs Naylor returned home on January 28 she has spent more than two weeks ill in bed and been visited by her doctor who has prescribed antibiotics."

Mr and Mrs Naylor are currently seeking compensation from travel company Thomson. They say they have been offered £50 but have rejected that.

Mrs Naylor said: "I must have spent well over £25 in the chemist's while I was there and have not been right since I came back. I think we deserve better."

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