A tourist from Felixstowe has been left seriously ill in a clinic after falling sick during a dream holiday to Cape Verde, a group of islands off the African coast.

And his wife says she has been unable to get any help from their holiday insurance which was arranged through the Post Office – although when contacted by this newspaper, the insurers said they are working to bring the family back to the UK.

Pete Mazur, 44, who lives at Walton in Felixstowe, was taken ill during the holiday with his wife Becky and five-year-old son Ollie. He was firstly diagnosed with a broken rib but then found to have fluid on the lung.

He was taken to a local clinic, but they have been unable to give him the treatment he needs – and his wife has been told he needs to be flown to a hospital on the Canary Islands.

However her attempts to get Post Office Travel Insurance to agree to the move had been unsuccessful.

She said: “We took out full holiday insurance with Post Office Travel, but I have been trying to contact them time and again since Pete was taken ill on Wednesday but no one has helped at all.

“At one stage I was told we just needed to get someone to sign off his transfer – but that never happened and when I contacted them again I was told that the person who needed to sign it off had gone home for the weekend.

“I’m sitting here with Pete in the clinic and he’s getting worse every day – he now needs intensive care but that isn’t available here.”

Mr Mazur has spent four nights in the clinic with his wife and son at his bedside. Mrs Mazur said: “He has deteriorated badly and needs expert care in a proper hospital, not a clinic like this.”

Mrs Mazur said she had also been in touch with the Foreign Office and her local MP Dr Therese Coffey, who had both been trying to help.

She was also being supported by friends from home who were expressing concern for the family’s plight through their Facebook page.

A spokesman for the Post Office said insurance advisers had been in touch with Mrs Mazur.

He added: “Post Office Ltd takes our responsibilities to our customers seriously. We are seeking to resolve Mr Mazur’s case urgently and get him brought back to the UK for medical treatment as soon as possible.”