Last month, two American tourists, Edward Nathaniel Holmes, 63, and Cynthia Day, 49, were found dead in their hotel room at a resort in La Romana in the Dominican Republic.

Just five days earlier, another woman, Miranda Schaup-Werner, 41, died in her room with her husband nearby.

Both couples had checked into Grand Bahia Principe Hotel La Romana on the same day but didn’t know each other, and everyone is baffled by what exactly is causing these deaths.

The autopsy found that Schaup-Werner had suffered from a heart attack, pulmonary oedema, and respiratory failure.

The other couple suffered respiratory failure and pulmonary oedema, caused by excess lung fluid. Day also suffered cerebral oedema.

CNN with more:

Toxicology results are pending and the deaths remain under investigation by authorities in the Dominican Republic.

Jay McDonald, a spokesman for the Schaup-Werner family, said they were working with authorities in the United States to gather more information.

“Our goal here is answers. We want to understand what happened,” he said, adding that the couple was in the Dominican Republic to celebrate their ninth wedding anniversary.

A spokesperson for the hotel said the deaths of Holmes, Day and Schaup-Werner were isolated events, and that there “are no indications of any correlation between these two unfortunate incidents”.

As the news of the three deaths spreads around the world, another couple who began to feel ill while staying at the resort are now seeking legal action.

Kaylynn Knull, 29, and her boyfriend Tom Schwander, 33, filed a lawsuit earlier this year against the owners of Grand Bahia Principe Hotel La Romana, blaming them for causing their sickness in June 2018.

…On the sixth day of the couple’s 13-day vacation, Knull said she woke to a pounding headache. She assumed she was dehydrated, so at breakfast she drank water and tomato juice hoping that would help. It didn’t.

When the couple returned to their room, they were hit with an overwhelming “chemical smell like someone had painted the walls,” she said.

They looked around, trying to find the source of the smell, discovered nothing and called the front desk for help. They wondered if it was cleaning solution but it appeared that housekeeping had not visited.

The couple cut their vacation short and sought medical attention back in the US. They were examined by their respective family doctors who, according to medical records Knull provided, suspected the couple had been exposed to organophosphates (the chemicals in pesticides).

Exposure to organophosphates can cause increased saliva, tear production, diarrhoea, nausea, sweating, confusion and other symptoms. It can also lead to respiratory problems or failure.

The toxicology reports for the three deceased tourists are still pending.

Again, the hotel is sticking to its guns and denying any correlation between the deaths, but the families of the deceased are not convinced.

Relatives of Day said they plan to order their own toxicology exam when her body is allowed to be transported back to the US.

Until more information emerges, nobody knows for sure what led to the three deaths.

[source:cnn]