Brit couple struck down with stomach pain and bloody diarrhoea after visiting Caribbean island where nine died want minibar booze tested
A COUPLE who were struck down with stomach pain and bloody diarrhoea after a holiday on a Caribbean island where nine people have died want the their hotel's minibar booze to be tested.
Emma Plappert and boyfriend Leigh Bailey have had serious health concerns since returning from the Grand Bahia Principe hotel in the Dominican Republic.
It comes as a ninth tourist died from a mystery illness in the Dominican Republic - including four at the Bahia Principe Hotel, where the FBI is to begin taking tests.
The couple from Southend, Essex, have suffered from crippling stomach pains, intense exhaustion, red lumps on their legs and bloody diarrhoea since returning home on May 19.
They had brought back small bottles of alcohol from the minibar to give to friends and family as gifts, but retrieved them as soon as they heard nine deaths could be connected to alcohol.
Now Emma and Leigh, who forked out £3,400 for the two week holiday after Leigh won £6,000, on the slots are calling for UK authorities to test the alcohol.
It just didn't taste like alcohol at all. It just tasted weird. I said at the time that they had put fake alcohol in it
Emma Plappert
Emma, 36, told : "The first thing we noticed that was strange was the alcohol from the main hotel bar.
"It just didn't taste like alcohol at all. It just tasted weird. I said at the time that they had put fake alcohol in it.
"It tasted a bit chemically."
The mum-of-three added: "I woke up and it smelt like rancid rotten eggs. I think it was coming through the air conditioning.
"I started to think of chemical gasses. I was really scared.
"After that I had the worst tummy ache of my life."
Other guests had also reported strange smells in the Bahia Principe Hotel, including Doug Hand and Susie Lauterborn, a couple from Philadelphia.
After staying at the resort Susie told how she had rashes on her torso, cold sweats, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and a temperature over 100 degrees, which she first put down to food poisoning.
She reported "off" tasting wine and pasta like "battery acid".
Is alcohol behind the deaths and illness in the Dominican Republic?
In the past year, nine American tourists have died after falling ill at resorts in the Dominican Republic.
The deaths have an eerie similarity and suspicion has now turned to alcohol served in the minibars.
Most of the deaths as the victims were healthy adults and some of them drank from their hotel minibar before falling ill.
Some of the symptoms they had included nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, which one expert claims is similar with poisoning from pesticides of methanol.
Methanol is a type of alcohol that is not safe for human consumption.
Lawrence Kobilinsky, a forensic science professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan, said: “Adulterated alcohol is usually methanol added to alcohol or just plain methanol, which is very, very toxic."
She said: "Maybe there’s something deeper here. It’s really crazy to hear that people had passed away."
Bride-to-be Yvette Monique Sport, 51, was the first to die at the hotel after reportedly drinking from the minibar in June 2018.
In May 2019, Miranda Schaup-Werner, a 41-year-old from Allentown, Pennsylvania, collapsed and died suddenly on May 25 in her room at Bahia Principe hotel, also after drinking from the minibar.
Just five days later Nathaniel Holmes, 63, and Cynthia Ann Day, 49, died at the same hotel inside their rooms.
An early autopsy claimed they suffered from respiratory failure and pulmonary edema.
Timeline of deaths
- June 2018: Yvette Monique Sport, 51, of Glenside, Pennsylvania, dies after drinking from the minibar at at a Bahia Principe hotel in Punta Cana
- July 2018: David Harrison dies while on holiday at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Punta Cana
- April 2019: John Corcoran, brother of US TV star Barbara, dies from heart attack
- April 14: Robert Bell Wallace, 67, of California in hospital four days after falling ill
- May 25: Miranda Schaup-Werner, 41, of Pennsylvannia, dies within hours of consuming a drink from a resort minibar at Bahia Principe Hotel in La Romana
- May 30: Cynthia Day, 49, and Nathaniel Holmes, 63, of Maryland, are found dead in their hotel rooms
- June 10: Leyla Cox, 53, of Staten Island, New York, is found dead in her hotel room
- June 13: Joseph Allen, 55, from New Jersey, dies in room at the Terra Linda hotel in Sosua
The US embassy in the Dominican Republic called in the FBI to carry out toxicology reports which could take up to 30 days to be completed.
It said in a statement last week: “These incidents are tragic and we offer our deepest condolences to those personally impacted.
“Dominican authorities have asked for FBI assistance for further toxicology analysis on the recent Bahia Principe, La Romana, cases and our FBI colleagues tell us that those results may take up to 30 days.
“We ask everyone to be patient while these investigations run their course.”
Francisco Garcia, the country’s tourism minister, called the deaths “isolated incidents” earlier this month and said that the Dominican Republic was a “safe destination”.
In a statement on June 7 Grupo Pinero, which owns the Bahia Principe, called news reports "inaccurate" and "false.
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They added: "Bahia Principe Hotels & Resorts would like to express our deep respect to the authorities and the ongoing investigations.
"We reiterate our firm commitment to collaborating completely with the authorities and hope for a prompt resolution of their inquiries and actions and will not be making any further statements that may interfere with them.
"As a result of the misinformation that has been published, which we wholeheartedly disagree with, Bahia Principe Hotels & Resorts has suffered great damage to its image and reputation."
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