Vacation on Ibiza ended with amputation of fingers for a Briton (9 photos)

Tom Bush, from Merthyr Tydfil, UK, was spending the summer of 2021 in Ibiza. He had been partying with friends for two months, sipping drinks and soaking up the sun on the San Antonio coastline, but on July 1, the fairy tale came to an abrupt end.





That evening, Tom and his mates went out to watch the sunset.

"I think I put my hand on the rocks and felt a little prick, but nothing serious," Tom told The Mirror. "Then I had a few more drinks and was in bed by 11pm."



The tourist woke up in the middle of the night in severe pain.

"I woke up at 4am, my hand felt like it was on fire. I panicked, my hand was really swollen and blue. I woke up my friends and we went to the chemist, the pharmacists advised me to go to hospital immediately."



"The doctors didn't understand what was happening, because it was so rare."

The Spanish doctors couldn't help the boy, and he had to return to his native Wales.

"The tips of three fingers turned black and began to die. The surgeons were in no hurry to operate, they wanted to save my hand as much as possible," he says. "Over the next two or three months, nurses came to my house and checked the wounds."





"Part of the phalanx fell off, which is what they wanted, and a few months later I had surgery. So I was left with two stumps and a small little finger."



Despite his experiences, Tom encourages tourists to visit the island, but urges them to take precautions.

"I would never want to discourage anyone from going. It's a beautiful island and I don't want my story to scare or deter anyone. First of all, make sure you have good health insurance because it can come in handy. If you feel something is wrong, go to a doctor right away. God knows what could have happened to me if I had waited."





According to healthplanSpain.com, there are six species of venomous spiders in Spain, but the ones to be especially wary of are the black widow and the recluse. However, there have been no recorded arachnid-related deaths in Spain.

It is unknown what species bit Tom.