Posted on 06/10/2019 11:52:54 AM PDT by Red Badger
'I Believe These People Were Poisoned. I Would've Been Poisoned Had I Not Held It In My Mouth... It Took Effect Really Fast.'
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – A Brooklyn woman is claiming she vomited blood after drinking a beverage from her hotel room’s mini bar in the Dominican Republic.
She says it was at the same resort where three American tourists died last month, reports CBS2’s Reena Roy.
Awilda Montes believes her 7UP bottle was actually filled with bleach when she was on vacation.
She initially thought it might’ve been some kind of accident or mix up, but now with the recent news of three people dying at the same resort, this could be something criminal
It was supposed to be a romantic getaway with her boyfriend at the Luxury Bahia Principe Bouganville Resort last October.
Just a few hours into Montes’ vacation she was rushed to the hospital.
“You finally get those days off you look forward to and something like this will happen?” said Montes. “You just don’t expect this.”
She says it all started when she opened a bottle of 7UP from her hotel room’s mini bar. She noticed it didn’t have fizz and assumed it was simply flat, but quickly tasted what she believed was bleach.
“I was cautious when I took a gulp of it,” said Montes. “I immediately felt it burn me, burn my mouth, burn my tongue.
“My mouth was on fire,” she said. “When I spit it out in bathroom sink it was blood. I was just irrigating my mouth.”
The hotel staff brought her to a local clinic where doctors treated her for the pain and vomiting.
Montes says the resort apologized, offering upscale dinner reservations and a couples’ massage.
Luxury Bahia Principe Bouganville Resort (credit: CBS2)
The resort is where three American tourists were found dead last month: 41-year-old Miranda Schaup-Werner collapsed and died after also drinking a beverage from the mini bar, according to her family.
Five days later, a Maryland couple were found unresponsive in their room at a sister hotel in the same resort. They showed no signs of violence, and relatives say they were healthy.
“At the time I didn’t think it was done deliberately,” Montes said about her experience. “Until I saw the news and realized there has to be some kind of correlation with what happened to me and what happened to them.
“I believe these people were poisoned,” she said. “I would’ve been poisoned had I not held it in my mouth and spit it (out) because it took effect really fast.”
In a statement, the resort claims Miranda Schaup-Werner died of a heart attack. A family spokesman says she was treated for a heart issue years ago but was recently in good health.
“We don’t have any answers of what happened down there,” said neighbor Mike Saraceni.
The FBI confirms it is investigating the sudden deaths. Preliminary autopsies indicate all three had the same cause: fluid in the lungs and respiratory failure.
Resort officials tell CBS News the deaths are unrelated. CBS2 has reached out to them for information in Montes’ case and are waiting to hear back.
AFAIK, ricin doesn’t work that fast.
I agree!!! That was my first thought too!!!
“Why do people go on vacation to Third World shit holes?”
It’s makes them feel better about having to live in Democrat-run shit holes in the USA.
I just posted this on another thread of a similar subject.
I was in Boston at the Marriot Back Bay. I pulled a Heineken out of the mini fridge because I had some time to kill before dinner.
I took a swig and immediately ran to the bathroom and spit it out into the sink. Thankfully, it was just water. Some previous guest had drank the beer and refilled it water. Then they screwed the cap back on and put it back into the fridge so that they would not get charged.
I left a note for the maid but still got charged.
This must happen all the time. I have now noticed the fancy new hotel rooms now have an electronic fridge that charges your room account IF you remove anything from that slot in the fridge.
We went to the Big Island of Hawaii in April. My first stop after leaving the rental car was the Costco. We bought fruit, yogurt, granola, 2 cases of bottled water and a case of Landshark Lager. This hotel did not have a mini bar. It did have a small fridge in the room that we filled up.
We visited Disney World back 12 years ago. We had the cab driver take us to a store to buy similar stuff plus a styrofoam cooler. When we checked out, we gave everything we had left to the family that had just checked in across the hall.
We did the same thing in Grand Cayman.
It is incredible how much you can spend at resorts just drinking. Plus it is really easy to get dehydrated in that hot sun when you are coming from NH.
Her story doesn’t sound like bleach.
CBS NEWS.COM
Mexican resort served “poisonous” alcohol to woman who died, family says. Abbey Conner died at a resort in Mexico after allegedly drinking tainted alcohol.
The family of a young woman who died after possibly drinking tainted alcohol is now suing the Mexican resort that served her. Abbey Conner drowned in a pool at an Iberostar hotel and resort in Riviera Maya after drinking while on vacation with her family in January 2017. Her family alleges that the resort knew the alcohol they gave the 20-year-old was “poisonous.”
Conner’s family said her death was an entirely avoidable tragedy, at the hands of an Iberostar hotel and resort. Now, nearly two years later, they have filed a lawsuit asking for the resort to be held responsible.
Abbey Conner had only been at Iberostar Paraiso Del Mar for a few hours in January 2017 when her family says hotel staff served her and her older brother Austin tainted alcohol at a hotel pool.
Soon after, her family said, Abbey was found by hotel staff floating face down, while her brother was drowning nearby in shallow water. Abbey later died at a Florida hospital; her brother survived.
According to the new wrongful death lawsuit filed in Florida and obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the resort knew “that alcoholic beverages being served” were “tainted, substandard, poisonous,” and “unfit for human consumption.”
A few months after Conner’s death, her mother Ginny McGowan warned people about drinking in Mexico.
“It’s been a nightmare, it’s horrific,” McGowan said. “Be very, very careful of what you eat drink and you don’t know what’s necessarily in a drink or food.”
After Conner’s death, Mexican authorities raided 31 establishments. They seized around 90 gallons of alcohol being kept in unsanitary conditions. In February, the Journal reports, tests found about 235 gallons of a different seized supply of alcohol contained dangerous levels of methanol, a chemical commonly used in windshield washer fluid.
Kathy Daley previously told CBS News, she believes she drank tainted alcohol while staying at an Iberostar Hotel in Mexico.
“They said I couldn’t get out of the pool and I wasn’t even able to stand up in the pool,” Daley said. “They said I was vomiting all over the place and they had to call the hotel doctor.”
Daley does not appear to be alone. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, since Conner’s death, it has received more than 200 reports from U.S. tourists who had similar experiences at luxury resorts in Mexico.
“We thought we were, you know, safe in a 5-star gated resort but it’s apparent that you’re not,” McGowan said.
Iberostar Hotels and Resorts told CBS News in a statement it does not comment on pending or existing litigation. The State Department has previously warned travelers to consume alcohol in moderation in Mexico and immediately seek medical attention if feeling sick.
© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
also posted in another thread:
Many years ago my wife and I took an extended vacation in the Caribbean’s. When visiting several grocery stores, we noticed that every glass/plastic bottle and jar had been opened, some of the contents removed and something added back to make the bottle/jar appear full again. We mentioned it to the staff (locals) and they laughed and said it’s the way it’s always been done. Out of curiosity, the wife and I spent 20 minutes searching the shelves without finding a single sealed container. We each bought a bottle of orange crush soda and left the store. Once outside in the sunlight, we could see foreign matter swirling around in the soda bottles. We poured them on the ground and left. Neither my wife or I got sick because we followed a strict diet. We ate fresh fruit mostly oranges. We bought fresh fish from local fishermen, we boiled all of our drinking water. No local alcohol, no store purchases, no eating out at local spots.
Researching Ricin were you?
Don’t be too surprised at the knock on your door.
Probably around 5 in the morning or so.
Be polite to the nice men with guns.
As the 30s actresses used to say, it sounds divine. I never got the appeal of sweaty hellholes.
I did one cruise many years ago that included a beach afternoon in the Dominican Republic, and then back to the Norwegian cruise ship for dinner and drinks.
-PJ
Mexican authorities raided 31 establishments. They seized around 90 gallons of alcohol being kept in unsanitary conditions.......tests found about 235 gallons of a seized supply of alcohol contained dangerous levels of methanol, a chemical commonly used in windshield washer fluid.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, it has received more than 200 reports from US tourists who had similar experiences while staying at high-end luxury resorts in Mexico.
Is there a Musslman in tending bar?
Sounds like a good plan.
Yes, you have to watch the choices you make concerning drinks, the snack bars, and such.
I try to cut my deserts down to once every other time, or once in three times.
This is too coincidental
Three deaths same hotel falling ill after minibar consumption
Are symptoms similar?
One of my friends took his adult family down for the Kid Rock festival last month which was at the Hard Rock
He goes there annually
I used to do business there 30 years ago......cement and waste paper bales in Rio Haina
“I strongly suspect a serial killer using ricin.”
Terrorism to stop Americans from traveling to the Caribbean.
Holy cow.
We ordered Bloody Marys at a restaurant years ago and as soon as I sipped my drink I let it go back into the glass and told my husband “Don’t swallow that”! It tasted like rubbing alcohol to me. We sent the drinks back and I wanted to leave, but he didn’t. We stayed, and nothing more happened. My guess was that they were using it because it saved them money. People really have to be careful.
Only thing ever almost killed me in the Dom Rep as a young man even long ago was
Poontang near overdose.....
I say near cause overdosing on poontang is impossible
But I tried
I loved the place and this was pre La Romana and Punta Caña....
The promenade at Santo Domingo and all those clubs around the Capital grounds
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