Water park shut down after 20 people including children hit with mystery vomiting illness

A water park was forced to close after 20 people, including children, were struck down by a mystery illness.

Whitemills Wake Water and Aqua Park in Sandwich, Kent, shut its doors on Sunday after some visitors said they or their children had vomited after attending the site.

The park, which only opened to the public last month, said it would not reopen until test results of new water samples were returned.

The park's director, Wayne Cooper, said: "This is all a mystery to us. We don't know what has caused it.

"We had water samples two weeks ago and they were clear.

"There were symptoms such as vomiting, but these were out of about 2,000 visitors to the centre over that week.

"But we are on an open-water lake, not a chlorinated swimming pool. I don't know what's behind this."

Reports of people falling ill after visiting the park were posted on social media, with some saying they had experienced high temperatures and vomiting.

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One Facebook user wrote: "Few friends went Tuesday and been really poorly like two sets of friends.”

Sharon Robinson posted: “Please be careful if you have used the new Sandwich Aqua park this week.

"Two families are poorly today (including us) that used the lake on Tuesday. Symptoms including temperature and vomiting. The council have been informed.”

Amanda Dwayne said: “Please don’t use the new aqua wake park just yet until they get the all-clear for the safety of the water in the lake.

“All people in our party - three separate families - have also been very sick within 48 hours of using the lake on Tuesday of this week and not including the people below who also used the park on the same day.”

Whitemills Wake Water and Aqua Park said it is working with Dover District Council (DCC) and public protection officials to discover the cause of the problem.

It is contacting those who booked to visit the park and offering them a voucher to come another time.

A Dover District Council spokesman said: “We are working with the UK Health Security Agency and the Whitemills Wake and Aqua Park to look into concerns in this matter.

"DDC takes all complaints seriously and is carrying out a full and thorough investigation."