Dominican Republic - American tourists found dead in resorts, same cause of death, 2018/2019

[rabidstoat]

Is that how they do it...one bottle that they refill in the minibars?? How would anyone think it is safe to drink from an open bottle??

This is what it looks like, for those wondering:

 

[Elley Mae]

This is what it looks like, for those wondering:

This is a “mini bar” in the rooms at DR? Oh hell no. I would never drink from those open bottles. I had no idea that is how it’s set up. I thought there were mini’s like on a plane.

 

[mlw987m]

I wouldn't drink from those in the Dominican Republic - no way.

 

[JerseyGirl]

On Sunday, the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Punta Cana said it was removing liquor dispensers from guest room minibars.

The resort said the decision was made independently and not as a result of two deaths that occurred at its property.

11th American died:

New York man latest American tourist to die in Dominican Republic

also....

more tourists come forward from sicknesses in the DR:

After deaths, more tourists to Dominican Republic say they were stricken with illness - CNN

 

[MimosaMornings]

Is it possible they sprayed pesticide in the rooms and it settled on the drinking glasses?

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Hard Rock Hotel in Dominican Republic to remove liquor from minibars

"The safety and health of our guests is now, and has always been, our highest priority," the hotel said.

 

[Inthedetails]

Hard Rock Hotel in Dominican Republic to remove liquor from minibars

"The safety and health of our guests is now, and has always been, our highest priority," the hotel said.

The PR gears are finally starting to move in the DR.

jmo

 

[human]

In 2015, methanol was $1.10/gallon.
Methanol’s Moment: With low prices, and proven process, is meth your new best friend? : Biofuels Digest

Cheap vodka at Walmart (1.75 liters or approx. a 1/2 gallon) is $8.00. A gallon would be $16.00. Non-tained, cheap vodka is 16x the cost of methanol. Replacing cheap vodka with some liquid with methanol in it is very profitable to greedy sociopaths.

It does not make sense to me why some die. It is not that many deaths considering there are 30 million visitors.

Even if 1000 people get sick and or die, that is a minuscule amount.

I really wonder how this all works.

 

[JerseyGirl]

Hand sanitizer for guests, face masks for staff and no hard alcohol dispensers in rooms.

These are some of the changes a guest at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino resort in Punta Cana said she noticed while vacationing there this week.

The reported changes come after two American tourists were found dead on the property.

An American tourist says she's noticed changes at the Dominican Republic resort where two guests have died - CNN

 

[Inthedetails]

It does not make sense to me why some die. It is not that many deaths considering there are 30 million visitors.

Even if 1000 people get sick and or die, that is a minuscule amount.

I really wonder how this all works.

If one of the culprits is bad moonshine, well...the goal of any booze is NOT to kill people. I would hope the purpose of using cheaper bootleg isn't to murder, but to save money/make money. So, of course, the number of people dying is not going to be in the thousands. Nobody wants that.

But, when tourists deaths do occur after drinking the brew, the motivation would be to cover it up, explain it away as bad health or bad behavior or bad luck.

jmo

 

[mlw987m]

Ah, I deleted it in case it is taken the wrong way

 

[Herat]

The interesting part about that mini bar is that the beverages all had labels on them indicating they were branded spirits. These were the labels I was able to find in photos of the DR minibars:

Ketel Russian Vodka
El Jimador Tequila
Ron Barcelo Blanco Rum
James (something I can't read ) Scotch

Note that all of these can be purchased in the US in legitimate liquor stores.

So, are these fakes when imported into the DR? Is there substitution in the minibar or are these labels tampered with?

I would also note that in more than one of the minbar photos, some of the labels were turned around so that you couldn't read them. The original photo I saw also had a shot glass under the spigots, these photos have a drinking glass, - sort of like an old-fashioned glass. I wonder if those spigots just free-flow or are restricted to a specific amount.

Edited to correct spelling.

 

[Herat]

But, when tourists deaths do occur after drinking the brew, the motivation would be to cover it up, explain it away as bad health or bad behavior or bad luck.

Or Cardiac Arrest, Pulmonary Edema

BTW: Pulmonary edema is not a very common finding at autopsy. It is usually a clinical syndrome with very specific findings usually arising from acute or progressive cardiac failure, which has a number of causes. It is not always found with acute myocardial infarction or acute cardiac arrhythmia.

 

[Inthedetails]

The interesting part about that mini bar is that the beverages all had labels on them indicating they were branded spirits. These were the labels I was able to find in photos of the DR minibars:

Kestrel Russian Vodka
El Jimador Tequila
Ron Barcelo Blanco Rum
James Scotch

Note that all of these can be purchased in the US in legitimate liquor stores.

So, are these fakes when imported into the DR? Is there substitution in the minibar or are these labels tampered with?

I would also note that in more than one of the minbar photos, some of the labels were turned around so that you couldn't read them.

My guess would be the legit bottles were refilled with illegit, but I suppose if you're a bootlegger with a sizable business, you might print fake labels too and paste them on bottles - that would really cover up any shady deliveries. "Look - all our inventory is from brand names, see our supply that just came in? All good!"

I'm hopeful the source will be discovered, though I'm not particularly hopeful that the same issue won't pop up again in the future and we'll have another thread of mysterious deaths that are explained away. Prost!

jmo

 

[Elley Mae]

The interesting part about that mini bar is that the beverages all had labels on them indicating they were branded spirits. These were the labels I was able to find in photos of the DR minibars:

Kestrel Russian Vodka
El Jimador Tequila
Ron Barcelo Blanco Rum
James Scotch

Note that all of these can be purchased in the US in legitimate liquor stores.

So, are these fakes when imported into the DR? Is there substitution in the minibar or are these labels tampered with?

I would also note that in more than one of the minbar photos, some of the labels were turned around so that you couldn't read them. The original photo I saw also had a shot glass under the spigots, these photos have a drinking glass, - sort of like an old-fashioned glass. I wonder if those spigots just free-flow or are restricted to a specific amount.

Did a search and could not get kestrel to come up, ketel one did. El Jimador came up as just above bottom shelf. The rum is local to DR. No james scotch came up in search, james king scotch did.

 

[Herat]

I suppose if you're a bootlegger with a sizable business, you might print fake labels too and paste them on bottles - that would really cover up any shady deliveries. "Look - all our inventory is from brand names, see our supply that just came in? All good!"

I found that El Jimador is the single best selling Tequila in Mexico. And Mexico was the place with something like 140 deaths from methanol-contaminated liquor, where 10,000 gallons of contaminated alcohol were seized in the Cancun resort area alone!

I just have to think there could be a secondary market of "cheaper" brand labels sold to the DR all inclusives at a substantial discount. Probably exactly as there was in Mexico before they were busted in 2017.

I think this scam probably goes on frequently in foreign places where there are large resort areas with foreign tourists who enjoy drinking and prefer all-inclusives, and perhaps the government is not as stringent about health and safety issues: Hard Rock Resorts has 10 all -inclusives in Mexico, Caribbean, and South America operating or opening soon. Then there are another 20 worldwide.

 

[JerseyGirl]

Did a search and could not get kestrel to come up, ketel one did. El Jimador came up as just above bottom shelf. The rum is local to DR. No james scotch came up in search, james king scotch did.

I believe the bottles are:

Kestrel Russian Vodka, Barcelo Rum, el Jimador tequila, and William Lawson's whisky.

I posted a link last week to a picture on TripAdvisor of the bottles (not blacked out):

HARD ROCK HOTEL & CASINO PUNTA CANA - Updated 2019 Prices & Resort (All-Inclusive) Reviews (Bavaro, Dominican Republic) - TripAdvisor

 

[Herat]

Did a search and could not get kestrel to come up, ketel one did. El Jimador came up as just above bottom shelf. The rum is local to DR. No james scotch came up in search, james king scotch did.

My misspelling. It was Ketel I don't drink that stuff. They can all be purchased in the US. The rum is made in the DR.

 

[human]

If one of the culprits is bad moonshine, well...the goal of any booze is NOT to kill people. I would hope the purpose of using cheaper bootleg isn't to murder, but to save money/make money. So, of course, the number of people dying is not going to be in the thousands. Nobody wants that.

But, when tourists deaths do occur after drinking the brew, the motivation would be to cover it up, explain it away as bad health or bad behavior or bad luck.

jmo

But why do just a few die? A few because there are 30 million visitors.

So someone dies drinking a drink from the bottle. It is not empty. No one else dies drinking out of that same bottle?

 

[PrairieWind]

But why do just a few die? A few because there are 30 million visitors.

So someone dies drinking a drink from the bottle. It is not empty. No one else dies drinking out of that same bottle?

Because there are a lot of variables going on. Not all the booze is bad. If the bottles in the mini bar are being topped off by the hotel staff, which I assume is happaning, then occasionally, the staff is getting bad booze. Son only a little is added as needed. If the bad booze is added to a 3/4 full bottle, then it is diluted and not going to cause harm. But if an empty bottle is filled with bad booze, the person drinking it is in danger. If that person is not a big drinker and only has one drink, probably no harm will occur. But if the person has several drinks....... or if the person is older or not in good health to start. Disaster. Probably 1000's have ingested some bad booze but with little or no effect because they drank very little or it was very diluted with normal booze.

I don't think its intentional. Its just that because there is little to no government oversight and standards are lax or non-existent, that in the distilling process occasionally they are getting methanol instead of ethanol.