Two tourists staying in a high-end hotel in Mexico died in their room on Tuesday, and investigators suspect their deaths were caused by gas inhalation. The tourists, both from the United States (a 41-year-old man and a 22-year-old woman from Newport Beach, California) were staying at the Hyatt-owned Hotel Rancho Pescadero, in El Pescadero (a small town near Cabo San Lucas), where nightly room rates range from US$675 to US$1,500, according to Global News.
After receiving a call from someone who had found the hotel guests "unconscious," paramedics arrived to discover two dead bodies, and they were thought to have been dead for 10-11 hours.
From Global News:
The victims were identified as John Heathco, 41, and Abby Lutz, 22, according to a statement from the Baja California Sur Attorney General's Office, obtained by ABC. …
Their cause of death was deemed as "intoxication by substance to be determined," according to the Attorney General's statement. The Associated Press reported that the suspected cause of death was gas inhalation.
There have been several cases of deaths in Mexico due to poisoning by carbon monoxide or other gases. Such gases are often produced by improperly vented or leaky water heaters and stoves.
In Mexico, proper gas line installations and vents are often lacking, and there is no legal requirement to install carbon monoxide monitors.
