Tourist dies, over 1,700 others evacuated in Dominican Republic luxury resort fire

A huge fire at a luxury beach resort in the Dominican Republic killed one woman and forced nearly 1,700 guests to be evacuated on Friday.

The woman was a 46-year old Italian tourist, the DAEH emergency services said in a statement to local media. It added that three people were taken to medical facilities and six others were treated on site.

Drone footage shows how widespread the fire was, with buildings spanning the Viva Wyndham Dominicus Beach in the town of Bayahibe on fire, and thick black smoke billowing into the air.

The cause of the early-morning blaze is not yet known, but an initial investigation found the flames spread quickly due to wind conditions and the flammable thatched roofs on some buildings.

The country’s Emergency Operations Center (COE) said the fire had been brought under control and guests had been moved to other hotels.

It added that tourist activities in the town and surrounding area were not affected.

Italian news agency Ansa reported that the Italian ambassador to the Dominican Republic met the deceased woman’s husband at the hospital. The embassy is helping around 285 Italian tourists who were staying at the resort or nearby, issuing emergency passports to those whose travel documents were destroyed in the fire and arranging flights home.

Bayahibe, a popular resort town on the Caribbean coast, is known for its clear blue waters and sandy beaches.

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, which franchises about 8,400 hotels around the world, has been contacted for comment.

Canadian couple found dead while vacationing in Dominican Republic in 2025

A Canadian couple was found dead while vacationing in the Dominican Republic, their bereaved family shared on social media.

Christine Sauvé and Alain Noël died in their sleep the night of 25 December, Sauvé’s brother Gilles Sauvé Jr told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in an interview.

Sauvé says the cause of the couple’s deaths is still unknown, and that their bodies were found by their son, who was on vacation with them.

Local authorities are investigating, he said, and they have told him to expect autopsy results in 45 days.

Sauvé told the CBC that his sister had called him the night before, saying she was feeling dizzy and had visited the hospital.

She had bloodwork done and was supposed to have more scans the next day, he said.

“In the end, it didn’t come to that,” he said.

Global Affairs Canada, the government’s global outreach arm, told the BBC that it is aware of the deaths and is in touch with officials in the area.

“Canadian officials are providing consular assistance and are in contact with local authorities to gather more information,” it said.

The couple had been saving to travel the world, Sauvé said.

“It was their retirement plan,” he added. “Like snowbirds.”

He is now in the Dominican Republic speaking to authorities and trying to obtain death certificates to ultimately repatriate the bodies to Canada, he said.

“What’s very difficult is that we’re not in Quebec [and it’s] the holiday season,” he said. “Everything is closed, including the embassies. We’re trying to get things done, but everything is progressing very slowly.”