By KHRISNA RUSSELL
Tribune Chief Reporter
krussell@tribunemedia.net
ASPHYXIATION due to carbon monoxide poisoning was yesterday confirmed as the cause of death of three people who died at Sandals Emerald Bay in Exuma nearly two months ago.
“The Royal Bahamas Police Force initiated an investigation into the death of three visitors at the Sandals Emerald Bay Resort, situated on the island of Exuma in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas on Friday, May 6, 2022,” an RBPF press statement released yesterday said.
“At this juncture of the investigation, we can officially confirm that all three of the victims died as a result of asphyxiation due to carbon monoxide poisoning. This matter remains under active investigation.”
About two weeks after the deaths of married couple Michael and Robbie Phillips, from Maryville, Tennessee, and Vincent Paul Chiarella, of Florida, The Tribune was told by a reliable source that carbon monoxide poisoning was to blame for the fatalities.
Donnis Chiarella, wife of Paul Chiarella, was the lone survivor. The Chiarellas and the Phillips were found in separate villas in the hours after they sought medical attention for what was thought to be a mysterious illness causing vomiting and nausea.
Before the release of this update, Police Commissioner Paul Rolle yesterday said he received the death certificates on Monday.
“This is the cause of death,” he told The Tribune. “The toxicological report that goes to the coroner and the coroner may determine from that and hold an inquest and at the end of that inquest will determine who may be at fault or who is to take cause.
“For me is cause of death because cause of death will determine whether its a homicide or not and then once you know the cause of death you are to then satisfy yourself that there was no malice that there was no one who did that. So, in this case we kind of know but from the facts and the evidence it does not appear that there was a person in that.”
Comments
ThisIsOurs 1 year, 10 months ago
Still waiting to hear someone say what was the source of the carbon monoxide
tribanon 1 year, 10 months ago
Within 2 weeks of this tragic incident, U.S. authorities knew both the cause of death and the source of the cause of death.
All concerned, Sandals, the independent contractor it hired, the insurers of Sandals and the insurers of the independent contractor, the estates of the victims and their family members, have all lawyered in a big way in both The Bahamas and the U.S. for the mega million dollar lawsuits alleging wrongful death through gross negligence.
Senior U.S. government officials in the Department of State have already told family members that their claims in this matter will not be allowed to get dragged out over decades in the kangaroo court system of The Bahamas.
Fwreddy Boy Mitchell had better tread very carefully here or risk having his diplomatic wings clipped in a way that he won't be able to fly abroad anymore to mingle with his foreign peers and enjoy unlimited extravagance in spending our tax dollars overseas.
bobby2 1 year, 10 months ago
Again, as other commenter stated, what was the cause? A/C doesn't cause carbon monoxide, so what did?
Cobalt 1 year, 10 months ago
It’s a chain of events.
BEC can’t keep the electricity on. So 5 star, all inclusive resorts like Sandals have to rely on generators to provide consistent electricity for its guests. These generator run on gasoline and propane which produces carbon monoxide as a byproduct of combustion. The carbon monoxide was then leaked into the A/C ducts that were proximal to the generators and A/C units. Keep in mind, these are industrial size machines which are capable of producing lethal amounts of carbon monoxide. Furthermore, these machines had been sitting idle for over a year due to the COVID19 pandemic. Their components were obviously not maintained or serviced due to either negligence or a shortage of money. Big mistake!
The real problem here is that the Bahamas government has no operational safety and hazard codes. There is no yearly, state controlled inspection of these machines. The Fire Department of the RBPF should be responsible for building inspections such as elevator maintenance, fire escapes, sprinkler systems, fire extinguishers, smoke detectors, and carbon monoxide detectors. And if a building isn’t up to “code” then that business shouldn’t be allowed to renew their business license and operate.
But of-course this will never happen because the Bahamas is a banana republic ran by dummies.
ThisIsOurs 1 year, 10 months ago
Someone told you this? It's certainly a logical chain for some event but is it what actually happened in this event?? If it were the case it should have certainly been very easy to determine since a machine emitting carbon monoxide doesnt miraculously stop doing that overnight. Im assuming as a crime scene noone would have been authorized to touch anything including maintainenance.. that is a big assumption. And Sandals came out with as very strong statement in the following weeks that the cause wasn't them or theirs. Something as easy to check as a generator should have precluded them making such a statement. But literally, "who knows".
sheeprunner12 1 year, 10 months ago
This sounds fishy to say the least. Who will blow the cover on this mystery??????
tribanon 1 year, 10 months ago
U.S. Department of State when it decides it is the right time to squeeze Short Fatso Davis in a big way. The enormous legal claims against The Bahamas government and others are still being carefully crafted by high-powered U.S. lawyers for the victims' families.
Baha10 1 year, 10 months ago
Why was the Hotel not immediately Closed … indeed why is it still Ope, as in the absence of explanation as to cause, more could die?!?
ThisIsOurs 1 year, 10 months ago
In the best of worlds. But this is cover up, dont hurt the golden goose nation.
That aside, Id be very surprised if another incident happened. Noone else even reported feeling ill, the investigation would have uncovered that, people are just more than willing to come forward to link their near misses for the news media. So it does look like it was isolated to that building. It should have (and hopefully) triggered a review of all possible sources across the property to prevent like incidents.
Alan1 1 year, 10 months ago
Speaking to a travel agency owner in Canada he said that travel agents are now very reluctant to book people to Sandals Resorts in The Bahamas. There has been no satisfactory explanation of what happened and Sandals itself remains mostly silent. There is no idea what,if anything, that Sandals is doing to prevent further such incidents. After a huge number of initial news story headlines overseas "Go to The Bahamas and Die" there have been no reassuring follow up stories. All so sad for Exuma and for our country.
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