A fire broke out at the Viva Dominicus Bayahibe hotel in La Altagracia of the Dominican Republic on Friday, killing an Italian tourist, according to Reuters news agency. Authorities evacuated roughly 1,700 guests and staffs from the resort and relocated them to nearby hotels.
The DAEH emergency service identified the victim as 46-year-old Francesca Valentino from Italy.
While officials have not yet confirmed the total number of injuries, three people were taken to medical facilities while six, including hotel guests, visitors, and emergency responders, received treatment at the scene.
Emergency crews managed to extinguish the flames after hours of hard work due to the massive scale of the fire.
The Sun news outlet spoke to a witness, who said the blaze spread rapidly and appeared to overwhelm the initial firefighting response. According to the witness, the scale of the fire exceeded the available equipment and emergency operators needed to bring additional support units to control the situation.
As per the Dominican Republic’s Emergency Operations Center (COE), the fire spread rapidly due to parts of the hotel’s roof being constructed with highly flammable palm materials. The wind conditions also reportedly fueled the flames.
The COE said, “Preliminary observations indicate that the fire spread rapidly due to the flammable nature of the roof structures made of palm, as well as wind conditions.”
The Center also said that tourism activities in Bayahibe and surrounding areas were unaffected and continued to operate normally.
“Tourist activities in Bayahibe and the surrounding area remain unaffected and continue to take place safely and as normal,” it said.
Investigators have not identified the cause of the fire. Authorities will conduct a formal investigation once the affected areas are declared safe and emergency operations are done.
The Dominican Republic is currently the Caribbean’s most-visited tourist destination, with around 5.6 million visitors during the first five months of the year.
