A NINTH US tourist has died from a mystery illness in the Dominican Republic days after seven school kids fell violently ill at another resort on the island.
Joseph Allen, 55, from New Jersey, was found dead in his room at the Terra Linda hotel in Sosua on June 13, the State Department said.
Eight other US nationals have died on the island in the last year.
Last week, it emerged that seven high school graduates fell ill after eating sushi at the Hard Rock Hotel in Punta Cana – where at least two Americans have died.
Another person died at the Excellence Resorts which is also in Punta Cana on the east of the island.
The bodies of four other holidaymakers have been found at the Bahia Principe hotels which is located in the south east of the Caribbean paradise.
The FBI has launched a probe into whether the tourists drank tainted booze before they died.
Jamie Reed, Allen’s sister, told ABC that he died on the morning of June 13 during a trip to celebrate a friend’s birthday.
She said that her brother told pals he was feeling hot in the swimming pool and went to take a shower.
Later that evening he still wasn’t feeling well and did not show for breakfast the next day.
Staff then went to his room to perform a wellness check after he failed to answer his door and found him dead on the floor of his suite.
The New Jersey-native was said to be in good health and vacationed in the Dominican Republic multiple times a year.
His sister Jamie said she wants to know what happened to her brother.
She said: “The families need answers. We deserve answers. My brother was my best friend. I spoke to him every day. This is killing me.
“I just don’t want them to suppress anything, especially with them embalming the body.”
Allen’s relatives released a statement yesterday saying they believe he could be “the victim of a wrongful death.”
Meanwhile, a group of teenagers from Oklahoma had their trip to the Dominican Republic ruined when they fell sick with a mysterious illness.
The high school graduates flew on June 8 to Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Punta Cana, where at least two Americans have died and others have fallen ill, news station KOTV reported.
Liz McLaughlin said her daughter, Libby, was among seven members of the group who fell sick — and they have “no idea what’s going on.”
“We just don’t know what is happening,” McLaughlin told the news station. “Is it the water? Is it the ice? Is it the food? Is it the food handling? Is it the pesticides?”
For the first day, the teens enjoyed themselves hanging out on the beach.
But after dining at the resort’s Japanese restaurant, the trip took a turn for the worse, according to KOCO.
“I just woke up, and my stomach was cramping and I was sweating,” Bennet Hill told KOCO. “I was freezing.”
Hill and the six others were rushed by ambulance to the hospital, where they received anti-nausea medicine.
It’s unclear whether the group’s illnesses are linked to the fatal cases recently reported at the resort.
Robert Bell Wallace, 67, died from unknown causes during an April trip to the hotel.
His family said he became unwell after drinking a glass of scotch from the minibar.
Relatives of a Maryland tourist, David Harrison, recently revealed he died last July at the same resort.
Before going to bed, Harrison reportedly fell ill and died the next day from pulmonary edema and heart attack.
A spokesperson for the hotel told The New York Post the resort “immediately took corrective action” after the group of students fell ill.
“Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Punta Cana is disappointed regarding a recent situation in which a group of guests became ill after dining at one of our twelve venues,” the statement said.
“As the safety and health of our guests is now, and has always been our highest priority, Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Punta Cana is regretful that we did not achieve the extremely high standards we set for ourselves.”
This comes after Leyla Cox, 53, from Staten Island, New York, became the eighth US tourist to die while holidaying in the Caribbean island.
She had flown to the country on June 5 to celebrate her birthday where she was meant to spent a week before coming back to New York.
William Cox, her son, said she was found dead in her hotel room on Monday, just one day after her birthday.
Mr Cox said he was suspicious after his mum’s death was ruled a heart attack.
He told the Staten Island Advance: “I am overwhelmed and confused and in shock. I have a right to be suspicious.”
On June 13, it was revealed that the brother of TV star Barbara Corcoran was found dead in a Dominican Republic hotel room.
Property mogul Barbara, 70, who appears on the US version of hit show Dragons Den, revealed her 60-year-old brother John died from a sudden heart attack while on holiday with a pal in April.
Speaking with TMZ last week, Shark Tank star Barbara said her brother’s friend discovered his lifeless body on the floor of their suite.
But a post-mortem examination has never revealed his cause of death.
It is unclear which hotel John was staying in at the time.
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