The British tour operator, Thomas Cook, declared bankruptcy today after failing to find the money needed to continue its operations and launching liquidation proceedings. This was reported by world agencies quoted by BTA.

The 178-year-old operator, which had struggled against fierce online competition for some time and which had blamed Brexit uncertainty for a recent drop in bookings, was desperately seeking £200 million ($250 million, 227 million euros) from private investors to avert collapse.

This cancels the holidays of hundreds of thousands of customers, AFP reported.

Authorities will have to arrange for the return of nearly 600,000 tourists, clients of the world's old travel company, of whom 150,000 are British. This bankruptcy is twice as large of the one announced two years ago by British airline Monarch and in practice means that the operation will be the largest for civilians after World War II, AFP notes.

Established in 1841, Thomas Cook, the world's oldest independent tour operator, has 22,000 employees, including 9,000 in the UK.

“Despite considerable efforts", it was unable to reach an agreement between the company's stakeholders and proposed new money providers.

"The company's board has therefore concluded that it had no choice but to take steps to enter into compulsory liquidation with immediate effect," the company announced in a statement.