Another American tourist has died at a hotel in the Dominican Republic, becoming at least the ninth such U.S. fatality at a resort in the Caribbean nation, or after becoming ill at one, over the last 13 months, CNN reported on Tuesday.
New Jersey resident Joseph Allen, 55, was found dead last week at his hotel room in the city of Sousa, his sister Jaimie Reed told CNN. She said the family does not know what caused his death. He had been traveling with friends and had previously stayed at the same resort many other times.
Allen's friends told the family that he complained about not feeling well before he died.
The New York Post reported last week that what makes the string of American tourist deaths to this point in the Dominican Republic particularly disturbing is that many appear to follow a similar pattern in that they involve healthy, middle-aged adults who took a drink from their hotel room minibar before suddenly becoming gravely sick.
However, officials in the Dominican Republic have called the deaths isolated events as they try to reassure foreigners that their country is safe to visit.
The country’s leaders have tried to downplay the incidents, stressing that the Dominican Republic had more than 6 million tourists last year, with 2.2 million of them Americans.
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