Another American Dies in the Dominican Republic - This Time It's a Colorado Dad

Denver resident, Khalid Adkins, fell ill while on vacation in the Caribbean nation, and eventually died. His demise makes the ninth count out of the total American deaths occurring this year in the Dominican Republic.

Adkins had traveled to the Dominican Republic with his daughter, where he started feeling sick. Initial reports have highlighted its occurrence on a Tuesday. Come Sunday, the day of his flight back home, Adkins experienced immense sweating and vomiting, making him unfit to travel and forcing him to get off the aircraft.

Upon disembarking from the plane, Adkins’ relatives confirmed his stay at a Hospital in Santo Domingo, where he had spent the past few days in critical condition, coupled with pain resulting in screams.

“They transferred him to Santo Domingo and [said] that his breathing is really bad and that his kidneys were failing,” said the victim’s sister-in-law, Marla Strick.

The challenge with an unknown illness was further heightened with Adkins’ family members encountering difficulty in communicating with hospital staff. The options surfaced of having to conduct dialysis within Santo Domingo, or fly Adkins to the U.S. for an amount of $20,000.

This pushed the family to set up a GoFundMe account. Since its creation, the report has raised beyond than what was needed. Unfortunately, events have still led to Adkins’ untimely death, and the victim’s family remains clueless as to the specific reasons behind his passing. His remains continue to undergo autopsy in the Dominican Republic.

The series of life-takings has led to a mystery surrounding the safety of the country. Reports have indicated the victims’ complaints on feeling ill after meals and drinks from hotel bars.

However, the U.S. Embassy highlights no proof of any link with the deaths. The Dominican Republic’s foreign ministry, through spokesperson César Duvernay, further insists that the number of fatalities are outliers with more than 6 million tourists coming to the country.

Most deaths reported are caused by heart failures, which is considered by officials to be common reasons for Americans’ deaths on vacation.

Adkins’ death joins a puzzling trend of American deaths in the said country with it being the ninth this year and the fourth from the same month. All sharing deaths in the same month as Adkins are; Vittorio Caruso died June 17, Joseph Allen died on June 13, and Leyla Cox died on June 10.

On the other hand, from the previous month, couple Cynthia Day and Edward Holmes were found lifeless in their room at a Dominican resort from respiratory failure and pulmonary edema, caused by too much fluid in the lungs.

The two were found by hotel staff after missing their checkout time and instantly transported to the Dominican National Institute of Forensic Sciences for autopsy. Police confirmed that either of the two had possession of maintenance medicine.