Missing Us Couple In Dr. Apparently Drove Car Into The Sea?

Laela

Sidestepping the "lynch mob"
Another American tourist dies in the Dominican Republic

BY BRIAN PASCUS
JUNE 24, 2019 / 8:50 AM / CBS NEWS

An American died last week while vacationing in the Dominican Republic, bringing the total number of U.S. citizens who died while traveling on the island to at least eight this year and 11 in the past year. Vittorio Caruso, 56, died on June 17 while vacationing on the island, CBS News New York reported.


The State Department confirmed to CBS New York that Caruso, a recently retired owner of a pizza shop from Glen Cove, N.Y., died on vacation there this month, but his cause of death is unknown at this time. Caruso's family was too distraught to speak on camera to CBS but said the Dominican Republic has given them conflicting information about where and when he died.

According to Fox News, Caruso was scheduled to return on June 27. He was vacationing at the Boca Chico Resort in Santo Domingo. Caruso's sister-in-law told Fox News, "he was brought by ambulance to the hospital in respiratory distress after drinking something."


Vittorio Caruso in an undated photo before his death on June 17, 2019.
CBS NEW YORK


Caruso's family told the New York Post that he was "very healthy" and that "he went to the doctor before he left, and he had no problems."

CBS News has reported on what we know so far about the multiple American tourist deaths in the Dominican Republic this year and last year. Some of the deaths reportedly occurred after the visitors complained of feeling ill after eating a meal or drinking out of the hotel minibar. The U.S. embassy in Santo Domingo said there is no proof at this point the deaths are linked. Several of the deaths were reported to be a heart attack, which health officials say is the most common cause of death for Americans on vacation.

CBS News spoke last week with César Duverany, a spokesperson for the Dominican Republic's foreign ministry, who said the cases are isolated out of more than 6 million tourists, and that this doesn't mean the country is unsafe. He noted that the government has a special body focused on tourism safety, with protocols in place that have not changed.

On Friday, the island's tourism minister said the tourist deaths were a medically and statistically normal phenomenon. "We want the truth to prevail," Tourism Minister Francisco Javier García said. "There is nothing to hide here."

The FBI has a team in the Dominican Republic investigating the American deaths.

First published on June 24, 2019 / 8:50 AM

© 2019 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
 

cinnespice

Hello is me your looking for?
Oh no! I’m Haitian and don’t intend on ever going to the DR due to the poor treatment of my compatriots but this situation with deaths at these resorts is really unsettling.
I said this on a facebook page and got jumped on by 2 Latina girls, asking me if i'm Haitian and why am I being so black.
My sister told me to be cool, cause if she didn't i might have said some stuff that I meant.
Yeah whatever I know different and I'm grown so your opinions don't' sway me.
On our cruise we have a stop in DR so a lot of people are concerned and want the boat to change itinerary.
But you have people in group who are like no it's safe, it happened on the other side of the island and blah blah blah.
I'm like something is dead wrong and you trying to convince me otherwise.
And I'm like no thank you. I might get off and walk around but i'm not eating, drinking or spending money there.
I been to DR i'm good.
 

Ms. Tarabotti

Well-Known Member
And it will only sensationalize the story even more and throw the numbers off.

People die on vacation every day. Morbid but true and that is less concerning to me. :look:

I am more interested in knowing how many people died in the DR this year only and how that number compares to other years.

Yes, people die every day on vacation. But when you have a number of seemingly healthy people dying in similar ways at a particular area, it warrants further investigation. True, these people may have had underlying conditions that were aggravated by being in a foreign country but every possibility should be investigated- alcohol poisoning, insecticide use, the robbing and murdering of tourists, the emergence of a new disease. etc.

I wonder if these deaths are occurring only at the all inclusive resorts. When I went with my sisters friends, we stayed at a two rustic villas where local women cooked for us each week night. We had to leave shopping lists for them so that they could go to the local market to get food. Is it only confined to the all inclusives for some reason? Are the locals getting sick or just the tourists? Maybe some CDC scientists should be there as well.
 

natural2008

Well-Known Member
I said this on a facebook page and got jumped on by 2 Latina girls, asking me if i'm Haitian and why am I being so black.
My sister told me to be cool, cause if she didn't i might have said some stuff that I meant.
Yeah whatever I know different and I'm grown so your opinions don't' sway me.
On our cruise we have a stop in DR so a lot of people are concerned and want the boat to change itinerary.
But you have people in group who are like no it's safe, it happened on the other side of the island and blah blah blah.
I'm like something is dead wrong and you trying to convince me otherwise.
And I'm like no thank you. I might get off and walk around but i'm not eating, drinking or spending money there.
I been to DR i'm good.

Stay on the boat, relax, and read you a good book.
 

SoniT

Well-Known Member
Yes, people die every day on vacation. But when you have a number of seemingly healthy people dying in similar ways at a particular area, it warrants further investigation. True, these people may have had underlying conditions that were aggravated by being in a foreign country but every possibility should be investigated- alcohol poisoning, insecticide use, the robbing and murdering of tourists, the emergence of a new disease. etc.

I wonder if these deaths are occurring only at the all inclusive resorts. When I went with my sisters friends, we stayed at a two rustic villas where local women cooked for us each week night. We had to leave shopping lists for them so that they could go to the local market to get food. Is it only confined to the all inclusives for some reason? Are the locals getting sick or just the tourists? Maybe some CDC scientists should be there as well.
Based on the various reports (mainly from Fox and NY Post), the locals aren't getting sick. They're only reporting on the tourists. I still think there's some fear-mongering going on but I also don't have an upcoming trip to the Dominican Republic planned at this time. I might feel differently if I did.
 

TrulyBlessed

Well-Known Member
Delta allows passengers to Dominican Republic to cancel their flights
New York(CNN Business) — Delta Air Lines is giving passengers to one of the Dominican Republic's airports the right to change or cancel tickets without the usual penalty.

The flights covered by the waiver are those going to and from Punta Cana, on the eastern tip of the Island, where several American tourists have died in the last year.

Delta (DAL) said it is granting the waiver for travel through August 15, and if passengers are going to rebook they must begin travel no later than November 20. But if passengers cancel the flight altogether, they will get a credit that they can use on Delta for a period of one year from the original booking date.

The airline said it is granting the waiver"due to recent events" in Punta Cana. Delta said it is working with passengers traveling to the two other Dominican airports — those serving Santo Domingo and Santiago de los Caballeros — on a case-by-case basis. Other airlines, such as American (AAL), JetBlue (JBLU) and Sun Country, also say they will work with passengers wanting to change or cancel Dominican flights on a case-by-case basis.

Flight cancellations to and from the Dominican Republic are soaring, according to travel analytics firm ForwardKeys. New bookings to the island are off sharply since the beginning of June.

Between June 1 and June 19, cancellations increased 51% compared to the same period a year ago. The pace of cancellations has picked up even more than that in recent days with cancellations more than double year ago levels on June 18 and 19.

New bookings for July and August to the Dominican Republic from the United States have fallen by 74.3% compared to the same period in 2018. Bookings were up 2.8% in April and May, before the news coverage of the deaths began.

David Tarsh, a spokeperson for ForwardKeys, said the decline is similar to what happens sometimes after violence strikes a country. "You can get a long continued problem or things can recover quite quickly, depending on whether people see the threat as being contained or ongoing. The problem you have here is the uncertainty, because the deaths are a mystery."


Your questions about the Dominican Republic tourist deaths, answered

Bookings to rival tourism destinations have jumped, Tarsh noted. June bookings for summer flights are up 45% to the Bahamas, up 31% to Aruba and up 26% to Jamaica.

At least 10 American citizens have died in the Dominican Republic in the last year, according to the US State Department, victims' families and the involved resorts.

That includes two visitors to the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Punta Cana, a third who was staying at Bahia Principe and a fourth who died in her hotel room at Excellence Resorts on June 10.

At least some of the deaths are believed to have been from natural causes, and so far a connection between the deaths has not been established.

The loss of tourism is a huge problem for the Dominican economy. Tarsh said 17% of the nation's gross domestic product is tied to tourism.

Dominican Tourism Minister Francisco Javier Garciacalls on Friday called the spate of deaths "exaggerated."

"It's not true that there has been an avalanche of American tourists dying in our country, and it's not true that we have mysterious deaths," he said. He denied Americans are canceling their vacations to the Dominican Republic.

-- CNN's Doug Criss and Ray Sanchez contributed to this report

https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/25/business/dominican-republic-delta-trnd/index.html
 

Kiowa

Well-Known Member
Good grief :nono:


What are the conditions in the local hospitals? I know I've gotten sick while overseas, and I'd rather them airlift me back to the US, rather than treat me at local hospitals where even the locals poo-poo the medical treatment being provided there..
 

Crackers Phinn

Either A Blessing Or A Lesson.
Delta allows passengers to Dominican Republic to cancel their flights
New York(CNN Business) — Delta Air Lines is giving passengers to one of the Dominican Republic's airports the right to change or cancel tickets without the usual penalty.

The flights covered by the waiver are those going to and from Punta Cana, on the eastern tip of the Island, where several American tourists have died in the last year.

Delta (DAL) said it is granting the waiver for travel through August 15, and if passengers are going to rebook they must begin travel no later than November 20. But if passengers cancel the flight altogether, they will get a credit that they can use on Delta for a period of one year from the original booking date.

The airline said it is granting the waiver"due to recent events" in Punta Cana. Delta said it is working with passengers traveling to the two other Dominican airports — those serving Santo Domingo and Santiago de los Caballeros — on a case-by-case basis. Other airlines, such as American (AAL), JetBlue (JBLU) and Sun Country, also say they will work with passengers wanting to change or cancel Dominican flights on a case-by-case basis.

Flight cancellations to and from the Dominican Republic are soaring, according to travel analytics firm ForwardKeys. New bookings to the island are off sharply since the beginning of June.

Between June 1 and June 19, cancellations increased 51% compared to the same period a year ago. The pace of cancellations has picked up even more than that in recent days with cancellations more than double year ago levels on June 18 and 19.

New bookings for July and August to the Dominican Republic from the United States have fallen by 74.3% compared to the same period in 2018. Bookings were up 2.8% in April and May, before the news coverage of the deaths began.

David Tarsh, a spokeperson for ForwardKeys, said the decline is similar to what happens sometimes after violence strikes a country. "You can get a long continued problem or things can recover quite quickly, depending on whether people see the threat as being contained or ongoing. The problem you have here is the uncertainty, because the deaths are a mystery."


Your questions about the Dominican Republic tourist deaths, answered

Bookings to rival tourism destinations have jumped, Tarsh noted. June bookings for summer flights are up 45% to the Bahamas, up 31% to Aruba and up 26% to Jamaica.

At least 10 American citizens have died in the Dominican Republic in the last year, according to the US State Department, victims' families and the involved resorts.

That includes two visitors to the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Punta Cana, a third who was staying at Bahia Principe and a fourth who died in her hotel room at Excellence Resorts on June 10.

At least some of the deaths are believed to have been from natural causes, and so far a connection between the deaths has not been established.

The loss of tourism is a huge problem for the Dominican economy. Tarsh said 17% of the nation's gross domestic product is tied to tourism.

Dominican Tourism Minister Francisco Javier Garciacalls on Friday called the spate of deaths "exaggerated."

"It's not true that there has been an avalanche of American tourists dying in our country, and it's not true that we have mysterious deaths," he said. He denied Americans are canceling their vacations to the Dominican Republic.

-- CNN's Doug Criss and Ray Sanchez contributed to this report

https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/25/business/dominican-republic-delta-trnd/index.html
This is a good thing for Delta, hopefully other airlines will follow. I hope at least black folks will cancel their trips. The most recent black victim went after these poisoning stories occurred and probably thought it was just hype or a conspiracy theory. Nope. Nope. Nope. The DR ain't safe and it's better to lose the trip money if you have to than your life..
 

Laela

Sidestepping the "lynch mob"
^^thought I'd post more details.. this is sad... that last quote is very insensitive IMHO

Georgia man dies in Dominican Republic after drinking soda that didn't 'taste right'
JUSTIN CHAN, AOL.COM
Jul 15th 2019 2:57PM


Yet another American tourist has died suspiciously in the Dominican Republic, bringing the total number of mysterious deaths in the Caribbean country to well over 10.

Tracy Jerome Jester Jr., 31, of Forsyth, Ga., passed away on March 17 while vacationing with his sister at a resort, the U.S. State Department and his family told ABC News on Sunday.

"We can confirm the death of a U.S. citizen in the Dominican Republic in March 2019," a state department spokesman said in a statement. "We offer our sincerest condolences to the family for their loss. Out of respect for the family during this difficult time, we do not have additional information to provide."

Jester, who had been dealing with lupus, reportedly suffered from a "respiratory illness" after he had gone sightseeing. He had planned to return home the next morning but his sister called the night of March 16 to say he was vomiting and couldn't breathe, his mother Melody Moore said.

"I was panicking because I couldn’t get to my children," she recalled.

Jester's sister told her mother that he "just dropped to his knees and started throwing up blood, and was calling for Mama," Moore said. Several hours later, he purportedly passed away.

In a separate interview with WSB-TV, Moore said that her son had drunk a soda and had told her that it didn't "taste right." She is now convinced that his death is connected to the over 10 questionable deaths that have either involved the consumption of alcohol or the use of hotel amenities.

"Being a mom, I want to go to where he was, where he died at last," she said. "Something is wrong, my son is gone. Something is really wrong."

Most recently, Denver resident Khalid Adkins passed away in the Dominican Republic after he allegedly dripped with sweat and vomited in a plane's bathroom as he tried to return home.

Other victims include New Yorker Donette Edge Cannon, Pennsylvania woman Yvette Monique Sport, Maryland resident David Harrison, Californian Robert Wallace, Ohio resident Jerry Curran, Pennsylvania resident Miranda Schaup-Werner, Maryland couple Edward Nathaniel Holmes and Cynthia Day, California resident Robert Turlock, New York resident Leyla Cox and New Jersey resident Joseph Allen.

The FBI is currently assisting Dominican authorities with their investigation into several of the deaths, although Dominican officials have persistently downplayedconcerns over their country's safety.

In an interview with Fox News last month, Ministry of Public Health spokesman Carlos Suero dismissed the notion that foul play was involved.

"We had about 14 deaths last year here of U.S. tourists, and no one said a word," he said. "Now everyone is making a big deal of these."
 
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