British travel firm Thomas Cook collapses

Thomas Cook, the world's oldest travel firm, collapsed on Monday, stranding hundreds of thousands of holidaymakers around the globe and sparking the largest peacetime repatriation effort in British history.

The firm runs hotels, resorts, airlines and cruises for 19 million people a year in 16 countries. It currently has 600,000 people abroad, forcing governments and insurance companies to coordinate a huge rescue operation.

The UK's Civil Aviation Authority said Thomas Cook had now ceased trading and it would work with the government to bring the more than 150,000 British customers home over the next two weeks.

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