A couple struck down after visiting a Caribbean island where nine US tourists have died are calling on the authorities to test potentially poisonous alcohol they brought home as presents.
On May 30 Nathaniel Holmes and Cynthia Ann Day were found dead in their room at the Bahia Principe hotel in the Dominican Republic.
The couple were the third and fourth US citizens to die at the hotel, with further deaths in nearby resorts brining the total American death toll on the island to nine in a year.
With cops investigating whether the deaths are linked to counterfeit booze stored in the hotel minibars, two Brits are terrified they've been poisoned.
Since they returned from the Bahia Principe hotel – where four tourists died with two reportedly drinking from the minibars – Emma Plappert and boyfriend Leigh Bailey have had serious health concerns.
As well as crippling stomach pains, intense exhaustion and red lumps on their legs, they have endured bloody diarrhea after flying back to their home in Southend, Essex on May 19.
When they heard the mysterious deaths could be linked to alcohol miniatures, the couple rushed to retrieve bottles they had taken from their minibar and gifted to friends at home.
Luckily they got the bottles back before they'd been opened.
Now Emma and Leigh are calling on UK authorities to test the alcohol as they continue to battle their mystery illness.
"The first thing we noticed that was strange was the alcohol from the main hotel bar," explained Emma, who forked out £3,400 for the two week holiday after Leigh won £6,000 on the slots.
"It just didn't taste like alcohol at all. It just tasted weird. I said at the time that they had put fake alcohol in it.
"It tasted a bit chemically."
Several days into the holiday the 36-year-old woke up in the middle of the night to a strange sulfurous smell in her room.
Mum of three Emma said: "I woke up and it smelt like rancid rotten eggs. I think it was coming through the air conditioning.
"I started to think of chemical gasses. I was really scared.
"After that I had the worst tummy ache of my life."
Numerous people have reported strange smells at the Bahia Principe Hotel including Philadelphia couple Doug Hand and Susie Lauterborn.
After staying at the resort Susie told CBS Local how she had rashes on her torso, cold sweats, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and a temperature over 100 degrees, which she first put down to food poisoning.
She reported "off" tasting wine and pasta like "battery acid".
When a Maryland couple died at the hotel of what Dominican Republic National police said was respiratory failure and excess fluid in the lungs however, Susie got suspicious.
She said: "Maybe there’s something deeper here. It’s really crazy to hear that people had passed away.
“I don’t think it’s just limited to those people either. I bet with some further investigating, they’ll find out that way more people that visited that place got sick or even died.”
The first death occurred in June last year when bride-to-be Yvette Monique Sport had a drink at the minibar of the Bahia Principe hotel, took a shower and then went to bed.
Her fiance was unable to rouse her when he came to wake the 51-year-old from Glenside, Pennsylvania.
Almost a year later on May 25 Miranda Schaup-Werner, a 41-year-old from Allentown, Pennsylvania, collapsed and died suddenly on May 25 in her room at Bahia Príncipe hotel.
She also had just had a drink from the minibar.
Just five days later Nathaniel Holmes, 63, and Cynthia Ann Day, 49, died at the same hotel inside their rooms.
They reportedly suffered from respiratory failure and pulmonary edema according to an early autopsy, although their families members are pushing for a second opinion back in the US.
Emma stopped brushing off fears about her illness and offers from her dad to take her to hospital when she became aware of the deaths.
"People kept saying 'go to the doctors' and I kept saying 'I know, I know'," she continued.
"Then people started dying and I began to get really worried.
"I'm really scared now, but we are the lucky ones.
"We are ill yes, but others have died. We never would have gone there if we had seen this news before hand."
The US embassy in the Dominican Republic called in the FBI to carry out toxicology reports which could take up to 30 days to be completed.
It said in a statement last week: “These incidents are tragic and we offer our deepest condolences to those personally impacted.
“Dominican authorities have asked for FBI assistance for further toxicology analysis on the recent Bahia Principe, La Romana, cases and our FBI colleagues tell us that those results may take up to 30 days.
“We ask everyone to be patient while these investigations run their course.”
Francisco Garcia, the country’s tourism minister, called the deaths “isolated incidents” earlier this month and said that the Dominican Republic was a “safe destination”.
In a statement on June 7 Grupo Pinero, which owns the Bahia Principe, called news reports "inaccurate" and "false.
They added: "Bahia Principe Hotels & Resorts would like to express our deep respect to the authorities and the ongoing investigations.
"We reiterate our firm commitment to collaborating completely with the authorities and hope for a prompt resolution of their inquiries and actions and will not be making any further statements that may interfere with them.
"As a result of the misinformation that has been published, which we wholeheartedly disagree with, Bahia Principe Hotels & Resorts has suffered great damage to its image and reputation."
Mirror Online contacted the company for further comment.
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