Authorities have determined that three Americans who were staying at an Airbnb in Mexico City last month died of gas inhalation.
Police said post-mortem examinations on Tuesday suggested Courtez Hall, Jordan Marshall and Kandace Florence, who were found unresponsive Oct. 30 in the Airbnb they were renting, died of carbon monoxide poisoning. , according to the Associated Press.
Carbon monoxide is commonly found in fumes from stoves, lanterns, fireplaces, gas stoves, furnaces, grills or motors, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explain. Authorities have not said what contributed to the tourists’ exposure.
Security guards at the apartment building they were staying in called police after noticing “an intense smell of gas in an apartment”, reports the AP.
Marshall and Florence’s families told Nexstar CORRUGATED earlier this week the friends traveled to Mexico City to attend celebrations surrounding “Dia de Muertos,” or Day of the Dead.
Florence’s boyfriend had been on the phone with her the night of October 30 when Florence began to fall ill, the family said. She told him something was wrong. The two eventually got disconnected and he couldn’t get Florence back online. He then called the Airbnb host to do a wellness check, and authorities found Florence, Marshall, and Hall dead.
The families of the victims recounted the difficulties encountered in obtaining information and the property of their loved ones from the Mexican authorities.
Marshall’s mother, Jennifer, said they spent hours in a Mexico City police station waiting for an interpreter to show up. The US Embassy was also closed when they arrived and they were unable to enter the Airbnb to collect her son’s belongings.
Marshall’s funeral is scheduled for Friday, according to his family.
Tourists dying of gas inhalation are a persistent problem in Mexico, according to the AP. A gasoline tank explosion in March killed two restaurant workers and injured 18 people at a beachfront restaurant in Playa del Carmen, on Mexico’s Caribbean coast.
Three Americans found dead in Sandals resort in the Bahamas in May also died of carbon monoxide poisoning, autopsy and toxicology reports showed. Although authorities did not specify the exact cause of the exposure, investigators looked into a possible leak from the air conditioning or water heater.
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