Families of Tunisia attack victims to sue travel firm

Grieving families of British holidaymakers killed during a mass shooting at a resort in Tunisia are planning to sue the organising travel firm, lawyers said on Tuesday.

"On behalf of our clients who lost members of their family and those who suffered injuries in this terrible incident, we will now be preparing to commence civil proceedings against TUI," said Kylie Hutchison, from law firm Irwin Mitchell, which represents most of the victims' families.

"It is now crucial that the whole travel industry learns from what happened in Sousse to reduce the risk of similar catastrophic incidents in the future," she told reporters outside the Royal Courts of Justice.

The announcement came after coroner Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith delivered his findings of the inquest into the deaths of 30 British tourists in the 2015 massacre by an Islamic State group-linked gunman.

One lawyer said the family he was representing just wanted "some semlblance of justice" following the murder of Scott Chalkey in the massacre "so they can move on with their lives".

The findings followed a seven-week inquest into the attack in Sousse that led to serious accusations of "cowardice" and incompetence by Tunisian security forces.

"The response by the police was at best shambolic, at worst cowardly," the judge said, adding that the hotel guards were not armed and had no walkie-talkies.

However, families were left frustrated when the judge rejected accusations that the government or travel companies were partly at fault.

He said there was no "neglect" by the tour operator TUI because the victims were "not in a dependent position" and said there was "nothing that the hotel might have done before the attack".

Nick Longman, the managing director of TUI UK, said the attack had "shocked and devastated all of us".

On behalf of our clients who lost members of their family and those who suffered injuries in this terrible incident, we will now be preparing to commence civil proceedings against TUI. - Kylie Hutchison

Speaking to reporters outside court he said: "We are so very sorry for the pain and loss those affected have suffered.

"On that day the world changed. As an industry we have adapted and we will need to continue to do so,” he said.

"This terrorist incident has left its mark on all of us and its impact will always be remembered."

The British inquest, which is in fact a series of individual inquests into the circumstances of death of each British citizen, is not a trial.

But the ruling could be used in civil lawsuits by some survivors and victims' families.

The 30 British victims were among 38 people killed when a lone Tunisian gunman went on a rampage at a resort in Sousse which lasted half an hour. 

The attack, later claimed by the Islamic State group, was the deadliest terror incident involving British citizens since the 2005 bombings in London.