Brits Getting into Trouble Abroad

The Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) has released its annual British Behaviour Abroad report which shows that drug offences were the most likely cause of Britons being arrested in Cyprus.

There were 39 Britons arrested in Cyprus between April 2009 and March 2010, said the report, which also shows that there were 5,930 reported deaths of UK citizens abroad including natural causes, accidental deaths and unlawful killings. Proportionally, most Britons died in Thailand (292), Germany (563) and Cyprus (323), said the FCO.

Foreign & Commonwealth Office Minister, Jeremy Browne, said:

“This report shines a light on the number of Britons who get into difficulty abroad each year. The worrying fact is that so many of these situations are preventable. Helping out Britons in trouble abroad is part of our job, but we can‟t get you out of jail or pay your hospital bills.

3,689 cases of Brits being hospitalised abroad were reported to the FCO last year, with the highest number occurring in Spain (831), followed by Greece (471), and Egypt (235) which has replaced France (217) as the country where the third highest number of Brits ended up in hospital.

In related news, a 21-year-old British woman was hospitalised after she was hit by a quad motorcycle in Ayia Napa, said police. The woman was walking along a road at 5am when the 17-year-old Israeli quad driver lost control of the vehicle and slammed into her.

She is in hospital fighting for her life with serious head injuries, said police, who have arrested the 17-year-old quad driver.