More deaths in the Dominican Republic: Change your travel plans?

Another American tourist is dead after vacationing in the Dominican Republic. NBC Philadelphia reports that a 55-year-old Joseph Allen was found dead in his room last Thursday at the Terra Linda Resort in Sosua in the northern part of the Caribbean country.

Allen, who hails from New Jersey, is the ninth American tourist to mysteriously and suddenly pass away while visiting the country. But it’s not the deaths that are concerning so many. While the string of deaths stretches back months, the deaths aren’t isolated to one location – and toxicology results for several of the tourists are still pending. But there’s also the rampant reports of illness.

• According to KOTV, a group of high school seniors from Oklahoma had their senior trip to the Dominican Republic ruined when they fell sick with a mysterious illness. The group of 40 flew down June 8^th and stayed at the embattled Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Punta Cana, where at least two Americans have died and others have fallen ill.
• The Central Oklahoma Parrothead Association reports that 47 of the group’s 114 travelers got sick after staying at the Hotel Riu Palace Macao in Punta Cana back in April. Group member and travel agent Dana Flowers says the members became violently ill with, “diarrhea, vomiting, dizziness, headaches,” with many saying that after two months they still didn’t feel “normal.”

Source: NBC Philadelphia