A Brit couple’s holiday turned from a dream vacation to a nightmare after Turkish police arrested one of them for being drunk. But Carl Ratcliffe was not drunk and was actually having an asthma attack.
The 47-year-old had been staying at the Susona Hotel in Bodrum with fiancée Natalia Flynn, 49, on a 10-day getaway. But their trip together to Turkey hit a snag when Carl was struck by a severe asthma attack eight days into their holdiay. He was rushed to Bodrum American Hospital and placed in an induced coma, regaining consciousness three days later. But Carl suffered a second asthma attack on June 23 while watching the England vs. Ghana match in a bar.
Carl claims Turkish police took his medical episode for evidence of drunken behaviour. A blood test the following day showed he had no alcohol in his system but a judge has still stopped Carl and Natalia from leaving the country.
Carl, from Stevenage, Herts., said: “I’m a strong character but what I have been through is ridiculous. I could have died in the hands of the police on two occasions, while suffering a panic attack and if they had shot me.
“My anxiety is through the roof and I am terrified of going to the airport when hopefully I get out of this mess as I can’t be dealing the prions they were horrid.”
Carl, a former Barclays bank manager who is currently out of work due to his health, also told SWNS that he is hoping he does not have another medical episode as he would fear going back into the hospital. He said: “I’m also praying I don’t have another asthma attack as I don’t want to go back to hospital.”
Police officers had assumed Carl was drunk at the bar but it was not the case. He recalled: “I told them I could not breathe and I was having an attack but they said they didn’t speak English.
“They wanted me to do a breathalyser test but I couldn’t, so they arrested me for resisting arrest, not producing a breathalyser sample, and being abusive towards them. I wasn’t at all abusive towards them.”
Carl was taken to Bodrum police station and “managed to calm” his asthma attack down during a four-hour period, at which point he was taken to a separate police station. He added: “During that time if I put my hands down by my side the officers would say to me they would ‘shoot me’. They had handguns on them, and I was scared they were going to use them on me.”
He spent a total of 14 hours in custody before being de-arrested, though the judge refused to allow the couple to leave the country, leaving Carl “helpess and stuck in a horror story.”
But the horror holiday got worse from there as Carl found himself in a second induced coma when he went to pick up his replacement inhaler. He said: “I felt fine when I went in and while I was waiting they asked me to wait on a ward bed.
“The next thing you know I wake up five days later. I don’t even know why I was put in the coma as I was completely fine when I went in.”
A fundraiser has since been established for the couple who remain stranded in Turkey. A recent update noted the pair had been stuck there for 36 days and counting, with the court reportedly refusing “to speak with the British Embassy.”
His mum, Francine Kelly, 65, from County Down, Northern Ireland, said: “They treated him like an animal, I am heartbroken.
“I just want him home and safe in the UK.”
A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “We are supporting a British man in Turkey, and are in touch with the local authorities.”
Source: Express UK/ Opera News
