Tour operator TUI has reached a settlement with families of holidaymakers caught up in the Tunisia beach terror attack in 2015.

Thirty-eight people were killed when a gunman stormed the beach and hotels in the resort of Sousse on the country’s Mediterranean coast.

Some 30 of the victims were British, three were Irish, and many other people were left with life-changing injuries.

The joint statement from TUI and Irwin Mitchell, who acted on behalf of the claimants, said the attack “shocked and devastated us all and changed the lives of those affected forever”.

It said that TUI “has worked collaboratively” with the claimants “to reach a settlement without admission of liability or fault and in recognition of the wholly exceptional circumstances of the case”.

“The claimants have fought tirelessly to understand how the attack happened and to seek to ensure that lessons have been learned so that other families are not affected by the similar tragedy,” the statement added.

“TUI appreciates how difficult it must be to move on from such a horrific incident but hopes today will provide the opportunity for those affected to start to do so.”

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Extremist Seifeddine Rezgui, a 22-year-old electrical engineering student, massacred 38 tourists in the 26 June 2015 attack on a beach at the five-star Riu Imperial Marhaba hotel. Thirty-nine people were also injured.

The Islamic State terror group said it was behind Rezgui’s massacre, which is the deadliest non-state attack in the history of modern-day Tunisia, with more deaths than the 22 killed in the Bardo National Museum attack in the country’s capital of Tunis just three months before.

The Tunisian government later “acknowledged fault” for slow police response to the incident.

Thomas Cook resumed holiday sales to UK customers in August 2017, with managing director Chris Mottershead saying: “Tunisia has been a popular destination for decades and with our first three flights sold out, there is an appetite from our customers”.

It did not stop selling holidays to French, German and Belgian tourists after the Sousse attack as their governments did not advise their citizens against travelling to Tunisia.

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