US tourist deaths due to carbon monoxide poisoning – newspaper

NASSAU (CMC):

The three American tourists who were found dead at the Sandals Resort in Exuma earlier this month died from carbon monoxide poisoning, according to media reports on Monday.

The media quoted Police Commissioner Paul Rolle as confirming that the results of the samples sent to the United States for examination had been received by the Royal Bahamas Police Force. He said the results have been sent to the local pathologist and when a cause of death is released to the police, he will first release it to family members and then to the media.

The pathologist is expected to release the findings of the autopsy and toxicology report later this week, but the Tribune and Nassau Guardian newspapers reported on Monday that the deaths were due to carbon monoxide poisoning.

The US tourists, husband and wife, Michael, 68, and Robbie Phillips, 65, as well as Vincent Paul Chiarella, 64, were found dead in two separate villas at Sandals on May 6. Chiarella’s 65-year-old wife, Donnis, was the lone survivor.

Health Minister Dr Michael Darville told reporters last week that the victims’ families had requested a private pathologist to conduct separate autopsies.

Commissioner Rolle is quoted by the Tribune newspaper as saying that he is unable to say whether the request had been granted, saying this was outside of his remit.