Three American tourists die at Mexico City Airbnb from carbon monoxide poisoning

MEXICO CITY, Nov 9 (Reuters) – Three American tourists were found dead last week in a Mexico City apartment they were renting after apparent carbon monoxide poisoning, Mexican authorities confirmed to Reuters on Wednesday.

Friends Kandace Florence, Jordan Marshall and Courtez Hall were visiting the Mexican capital to celebrate the Day of the Dead, according to US news site WAVY, based in Virginia Beach, Va., where Florence and Marshall are from.

The Mexico City attorney general’s office, which has opened an investigation into the deaths, said the bodies of the victims were found on October 30 and studies indicated they died of carbon monoxide poisoning.

The victims resided in La Rosita, a neighborhood in Mexico City’s Cuajimalpa borough and near the upscale Santa Fe business district.

Airbnb did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but in a comment to Bloomberg it said the deaths were a “terrible tragedy” and the company was prepared to respond to requests from authorities.

The tragedy comes as an influx of Americans and other foreigners visit and settle in Mexico.

Last month, the Mexico City government signed an agreement with the short-term rental site in what Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum described as an effort to increase the number of “digital nomads” coming to Mexico City.

Gas leaks have caused other fatal incidents involving tourists in Mexico.

In March, an explosion caused by a gas leak killed two people and injured 18 at a restaurant in the seaside town of Playa del Carmen.

In 2018, a family of four from Iowa was found dead in their vacation condo in Akumal, about an hour from Cancun, suffocated with gas.

The U.S. Embassy in Mexico City did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Reporting by Brendan O’Boyle; Editing by Josie Kao

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