“I think there’s probably some kind of negligence somewhere,” Jason Allen said on Thursday.
News of Mr. Allen’s death came just days after Leyla Cox, 53, from Staten Island, died in her hotel room at Excellence Resorts in Punta Cana. Other deaths, which were apparently related to cardiac issues, include: Yvette Monique Sport, 51, of Glenside, Pa., at a Bahia Príncipe resort in June 2018; Mark Hurlbut, 62, of Grand Prairie, Tex., in June 2018; David Harrison, 45, of Maryland, at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Punta Cana in July 2018; Robert Wallace, 67, of California, at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Punta Cana in April of this year; Miranda Schaup-Werner, 41, of Allentown, Pa., at the Luxury Bahia Príncipe Bouganville, on May 25; and Nathaniel Edward Holmes 63, and Cynthia Ann Day, 49, of Prince George’s County, Md., at the Grand Bahia Príncipe La Romana on May 30.
The Dominican Attorney General’s office and the national police are investigating the deaths, and the U.S. State Department said last week that the F.B.I. was assisting. On the State Department website, the Dominican Republic has a “level 2” travel warning on a one to four scale, which encourages travelers to “exercise increased caution” if traveling to the island. The warning was last updated in April.
Frank Pallone, a New Jersey congressman sent a letter to the F.B.I. and the State Department about the deaths. In it, he asked the State Department to increase its warning for travelers, writing on Twitter on Wednesday evening that he was “extremely saddened” by the deaths. Mr. Allen was from the congressman’s district.