A major fire has struck the Long live Wyndham Dominicus Beacha seaside resort in the area of Bayahibein Dominican Republic. Flames engulfed much of the structure, with videos released by local media showing thick clouds of dark smoke rising above the Caribbean coast.
The local authorities, through the DAEH emergency servicehave confirmed that the fire has unfortunately caused one victimone 46 year old Italian citizenwhile almost 1,700 tourists were evacuated. Three people were taken to health facilities and another six were assisted on site: among those involved there were guests, visitors and rescuers.
The causes of the accident have not yet been clarified: the authorities have however reported that the flames they spread quickly because of flammable nature of some parts of the structure.
What do we know about the possible dynamics
As mentioned, according to preliminary observations from the Emergency Operations Center (COE), the fire spread rapidly due to the flammable nature of some parts of roof coverings, made of palmwith the flames spreading easily also thanks to the conditions of the wind.
This detail would also explain the images circulated on social media, which show how the flames devoured the vegetal roof of the resort, while the smoke spread towards the beach. In the past few hours, the fire was put out by the firefighters.
In the meantime the guestsabout 1,690they were transferred to other hotels in the areawhile the Viva Wyndham Dominicus Palace, a property of the same chain, reported no damage.
However, the local authorities have made it known that tourist activities in Bayahibe and the surrounding areas continue regularly and safely, an important point for a country that is the first tourist destination in the Caribbean and which in the first five months of the year alone welcomed approximately 5.6 million visitors.
The information released by the Farnesina for Italians on the island
The fire, unfortunately, caused one victim, a 46-year-old Italian citizen, as confirmed by the Farnesina. The reconstruction provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs adds some details on the dynamics of the tragedy: the woman would have been caught by a respiratory crisis while he was in beachwhere she had rushed together with the other tourists to leave the hotel rooms. There he would lose consciousness by inhaling carbon monoxide after being hit by a wave of smoke coming from the burning site, to then be transported to hospital with a private car.
Meanwhile, the Dominican government sent the head of civil protection and two ministers, and operational meetings were held with the Italian embassy and the resort managers to ensure assistance during the emergency.
There would be around 280 compatriots in the resort: as reported by ANSA, approximately 130 Italian tourists guests of the structure would already be returned to Italy with a Neos flight directed to Verona, with a stopover in Rome Fiumicino. A second flight instead expected for today with others 80 citizens.
