A DEEP Vein Thrombosis (DVT) sufferer has lost a Court of Appeal bid to overturn a legal ruling blocking their claims.

Three senior judges dismissed an appeal brought by 24 claimants against a decision by a High Court judge that the condition - the so-called "economy-class syndrome" - was not an accident under the terms of the 1929 Warsaw Convention.

Brenda Payne, of Taylor Street, Bury,was among 24 people who lodged the appeal.

A total of 18 international airlines are being sued by victims of so-called 'economy class syndrome', in which victims have been stricken, sometimes fatally, by the condition.

The victims are hoping the judges give a different definition to the word 'accident' -- contained in Article 17 of the Warsaw Convention, which governs the liability of air carriers.

They are battling at London's Appeal Court to overturn a High Court judge's ruling in December last year that being struck by DVT does not fit the Convention's definition of 'accident'.

Mrs Payne took flights to Amsterdam and Bangkok after winning a magazine competition. She is suing British Airways and China Airlines.