Hard Rock Resort and Casino Punta Cana.Photo: Shutterstock
At least six high school graduates from Edmond, Oklahoma, fell ill while visiting the Dominican Republic earlier this month.
According toThe Oklahoman, a group of about 75 people stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Punta Cana, where twoAmerican touristsdied after falling ill.
On June 11, about six members of the group got sick after having dinner at the same restaurant, Deer Creek Public Schools Superintendent Ranet Tippens toldTheOklahoman. Most of the travelers did not fall ill, and most of them are back in the U.S.
The symptoms appeared to be similar to some of the other publicized cases of tourists who have become sick in the Dominican Republic.
“We’ve been hooked up to IVs since we first got here with antibiotics, just getting hydrated,” Hill continued. “Anti-nausea medicine, all this stuff because we were just so dehydrated.”
The U.S. State Department has confirmed it is investigating the deaths of at leastsix American touristsin the Dominican Republic since the summer of 2018. Some of them passed away in what appear to be bizarre — and similar — circumstances. The agencies are not yet releasing further details about the investigations.
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Americans who have died in the Dominican Republic.
David Harrison, 45, was celebrating his wedding anniversary with his wife and 12-year-old son when he died of a heart attack at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Punta Cana in July of 2018.
On May 25 of this year, Pennsylvania psychotherapist Miranda Schaup-Werner, 41, collapsed shortly after mixing a drink from the minibar in the Luxury Bahia Principe Bouganville in La Romana, where she was celebrating her ninth wedding anniversary. (The hotel is part of the same resort as Grand Bahia Principe La Romana.) According to her autopsy, she died of a heart attack that caused respiratory failure and fluid accumulation in her lungs.
In April 2019, Robert Bell Wallace, 67, died while staying at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino resort in Punta Cana for his stepson’s wedding. His niece, Chloe Arnold, told Fox News that he became ill after having a drink from his hotel room’s minibar.
Robin Bernstein, the ambassador of the United States to the Dominican Republic,told Univisionthese high-profile incidents should not be considered anything more than isolated cases. “We have 2.7 million Americans who come to the country and the statistics is that this is a very … unique event,” Bernstein said in a statement. “They come to visit the beautiful beaches and enjoy the great culture. Unfortunately sometimes those things happen to people.”
The FBI and CDC did not immediately return PEOPLE’s calls for comment about the latest illnesses.
source: people.com
