Joe Duggan (Reporter)
HEALTH officials are searching for the cause of a deadly Legionnaire’s outbreak which killed a British pensioner and left 18 others seriously ill.
Seven hotels were affected with nine holidaymakers staying in the same Palmanova hotel.
The 70-year-old British man, who died a week ago, was also suffering from leukaemia, diabetes and coronary heart disease.
Thirteen of those affected were also British holidaymakers with news of the most recent victim announced yesterday.
The director general of health, Maria Ramos, said authorities were trying to determine the cause of the outbreak.
“The fact that people have been infected in different hotels makes us think it comes from a source outside from the hotels” she said.
The hotel owner where nine of the victims were staying told the Olive Press they had now closed until April.
Pilar Carbonell, the Balearic government’s tourism director general, promised ‘total transparency’ in the search for the cause of the deadly outbreak.
