Photo: Douglas Mason/WireImage
Adding to the rising numbers of people who have either fallen ill or died while visiting Dominican Republic hotels and resorts, a group of Oklahoma-based Jimmy Buffet fans allegedly grew violently sick while visiting the Dominican Republic’s Hotel Riu Palace Macao on an April group trip to Punta Cana.
Dana Flowers, a member of the Central Oklahoma Parrothead Association (who also serves as the group’s travel agent), tells PEOPLE that 47 of the 114 people on the the trip got sick, with many unable to leave their rooms. He said some are still not feeling “normal” two months later.
“We went [to Hotel Riu Palace Macao] for the week — some longer, some shorter,” he tells PEOPLE. “We were enjoying the beach and the pool, and about 3 or 4 days into the trip we started hearing about people getting sick. They were getting diarrhea, vomiting, dizziness, headaches.”
Flowers claims that everyone who grew ill in his group either swam in one specific pool or drank at the swim-up bar. When members of the group sought treatment from the on-site doctor, Flowers claims, ”Most of them got an IV, then were prescribed a medicine for parasites. [They] didn’t do any testing, they just automatically gave them medicine for parasites.”
He says after returning home from the trip, two members of his group tested positive for salmonella.
The Hotel Riu Palace Macao.Google Maps
PEOPLE reached out to a representative for Jimmy Buffett as well as the fan club for comment, but have not heard back.
The U.S. State Department has confirmed that at leastsix American touristshave died while vacationing in the Dominican Republic since the summer of 2018. Some of them passed away in what appear to be bizarre — and similar — circumstances. PEOPLE confirms that both the FBI and the CDC are investigating these strange deaths, but the agencies are not yet releasing further details.
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Their bodies did not show signs of violence,USA Todayreported. The Dominican Republic National Police announced that an autopsy found the couple had respiratory failure and pulmonary edema. Day also reportedly suffered cerebral edema.
Pennsylvania nativeYvette Monique Sport, 51, had just arrived at the Bahia Príncipe resort in Punta Cana when she died in June 2018.
Though her death was initially ruled a heart attack, with the news thatseveral American touristshave died at the Bahía Príncipe in Punta Cana, Sport’s cause of death is being investigated again.
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 with husband Daniel Werner.
In April 2019, Robert Bell Wallace, 67, died while staying at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino resort in Punta Cana. His niece, Chloe Arnold, told Fox News that he became ill after having a drink from his hotel room’s minibar. He was in the country to attend his stepson’s wedding.
According to Univision, Robin Bernstein, the ambassador of the United States to the Dominican Republic, recently said that these 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. “They come to visit the beautiful beaches and enjoy the great culture. Unfortunately sometimes those things happen to people.”
source: people.com
