Three Americans die in mysterious circumstances at Bahamas resort

Three Americans have died another has been hospitalised while they were staying at a resort in the Bahamas. Photo / Allen Dewberry Jr, Unsplash

Three Americans have died under mysterious circumstances and another has been hospitalised while they were staying at the Sandals Resort on Great Exuma Island in the Bahamas, authorities say.

Bahamian police went to the hotel after a staff member found one of the travellers, a man, unresponsive in his villa on Friday morning, police said. Officials were then informed that two more people, a man and a woman, had been found unresponsive in another villa.

The man in the first villa was on the ground. In the second villa, the man was slumped against a wall in the bathroom, and the woman was on a bed. All three were pronounced dead by a doctor, police said.

Chester Cooper, tourism minister of the Bahamas, said on Facebook that the cause of the deaths was unknown but that foul play was not suspected. He added that a fourth American, a woman, had been airlifted to a hospital in Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas.

The country's health minister, Dr Michael Darville, told ABC News that the woman was in stable condition.

The couple in the second villa were found to have suffered convulsions, and there were no signs of trauma, police said. On Thursday night, the couple had complained of feeling ill, were treated at a local medical clinic and returned to the resort, police said.

Darville told Eyewitness News Bahamas on Saturday that one or more people had shown signs of vomiting and nausea at the clinic.

The identities of the guests were not released. Cooper said on Facebook on Sunday that the Royal Bahamas Police Force, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Tourism and officials from the US Embassy were collaborating to formally identify the victims.

Chris Coucheron-Aamot, a guest at the Sandals resort, wrote on Facebook that the cause of the episode "may have been a fault with the a/c in the unit, causing a toxic coolant leak". Coucheron-Aamot did not immediately reply to a request for comment on Sunday.

The man who was found dead in a villa and the hospitalised person were Vincent and Donnis Chiarella of Birmingham, Alabama, their son Austin Chiarella told ABC News.

The Chiarellas were staying at the resort to celebrate their anniversary, Austin Chiarella said, adding that he learned details of the episode in a phone call with his mother on Saturday.

VISITORS REACT TO SANDALS DEATHS: Recently engaged couple Chasen Toth and Sydney Rosenquist of Mesa, Arizona, who arrived in Exuma this morning and will stay at the Sandals resort, had mixed feelings about the deaths of three Americans at Sandals on Friday. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/0hc4xDvk7x

— Eyewitness News Bahamas (@ewnewsbahamas) May 7, 2022

On Thursday night, Donnis Chiarella had become sick and visited a clinic but decided she felt fine upon discharge. Chiarella and her husband went to sleep in their villa.

"She woke up, and my dad was laying there on the floor, and she couldn't move," Austin Chiarella told ABC. "Her legs and arms was swollen, and she couldn't move, and she screamed to get someone to come in the door."

Darville said those investigating included environmental scientists to ensure there was not a public health issue but that it did not appear necessary to set up what he called a "makeshift facility" and "mini-hospital" because the episode appeared to be isolated.

He added that officials had "some ideas" of the underlying cause but did not provide further details, except that he was waiting for the results of toxicology and blood tests.

American and Bahamian officials did not respond to requests for comment.

In a statement, Sandals confirmed that three guests had died and said its staff had followed protocols by alerting medical professionals and local authorities as soon as possible. It did not describe the episode in further detail.

Sandals is based in the Caribbean and operates 16 resorts across the Caribbean, according to its website.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Written by: Alex Traub
© 2022 THE NEW YORK TIMES