Three Americans died under mysterious circumstances and another was hospitalized on Friday while they were staying at the Sandals Resort on Great Exuma Island in the Bahamas, the authorities said.
The Bahamian police went to the hotel after a staff member found one of the travelers, a man, unresponsive in his villa on Friday morning, the police said in a news release. Officials were then informed that two more people, a man and a woman, had been found unresponsive in another villa.
The man in the first villa was on the ground. In the second villa, the man was slumped against a wall in the bathroom, and the woman was on a bed. All three were pronounced dead by a doctor, the police said.
Chester Cooper, the tourism minister of the Bahamas, said on Facebook that the cause of the deaths was unknown but that foul play was not suspected. A fourth American, a woman, was airlifted to a hospital in Florida, where she was in serious condition, Commissioner Paul A. Rolle of the Royal Bahamas Police Force said at a news conference on Monday.
The couple in the second villa were found to have suffered convulsions and there were no signs of trauma, the police said. On Thursday night, the couple had complained of feeling ill, were treated at a local medical clinic and returned to the resort, the police said.
Dr. Darville told Eyewitness News Bahamas on Saturday that one or more people had shown signs of vomiting and nausea at the clinic.
Commissioner Rolle said that samples had been taken from the villas “to determine whether or not any contaminants are present.” He said that the Bahamian authorities were working with a laboratory in Philadelphia to expedite toxicology tests as autopsies on the victims were being performed on Monday.
“We really want to know what caused this without speculation,” Commissioner Rolle said. He added that the authorities were making arrangements with the victims’ families to repatriate their bodies to the United States.
Commissioner Paul Rolle identified the victims on Monday as Michael Phillips, 68, and Robbie Phillips, 65, of Tennessee, and Vincent Paul Chiarella, 64, of Florida. Mr. Chiarella’s wife, Donnis Chiarella, 65, survived and was being treated at a hospital in Florida, he said. The commissioner declined to identify the victims’ hometowns.
Chris Coucheron-Aamot, a guest at the Sandals resort, wrote on Facebook that the cause of the episode “may have been a fault with the a/c in the unit, causing a toxic coolant leak.”
Mr. Coucheron-Aamot did not reply to a request for comment on Sunday. In statements, Sandals and the U.S. State Department both confirmed the three deaths but declined to comment on more detailed reports about the case.
“We are closely monitoring local authorities’ investigation into the cause of death,” the department said.
Austin Chiarella, a son of Vincent and Donnis Chiarella, told ABC News that his parents had traveled to the Bahamas from their home in Birmingham, Ala., to celebrate their wedding anniversary. He said he learned details of the episode in a phone call with his mother on Saturday.
On Thursday night, Ms. Chiarella had become sick and visited a clinic but decided she felt fine upon discharge. Ms. Chiarella and her husband went to sleep in their villa.
“She woke up and my dad was laying there on the floor, and she couldn’t move,” Austin Chiarella told ABC. “Her legs and arms was swollen and she couldn’t move and she screamed to get someone to come in the door.”
Dr. Michael Darville, the Bahamian health minister, told ABC News on Sunday that those investigating included environmental scientists to ensure there was not a public health issue but that it did not appear necessary to set up what he called a “makeshift facility” and “mini-hospital” because the episode appeared to be isolated.
He added that officials had “some ideas” of the underlying cause but did not provide further details, except that he was waiting for the results of toxicology and blood tests.
In its statement, Sandals said its staff had followed protocols by alerting medical professionals and the local authorities as soon as possible. The company is based in the Caribbean and operates 16 resorts across the Caribbean, according to its website.
Johnny Diaz contributed reporting.
