Current and former employees of the luxury hotel in Mexico, where two Americans were found dead this week, are staying at the hotel after resort managers ignored repeated signs of a possible gas leak. He said he had turned off the carbon monoxide detector so as not to disturb customers.
Ricardo Carvajal, former night manager of Rancho Pescadero, $600 per night beachfront boutique The hotel, which is owned by Hyatt, said carbon monoxide detectors rang frequently for about three months in the last half of last year, likely due to a leak in the system that supplies gas to the fire pits on the outdoor patios of each room. It is said to be
Carvajal said in January that hotel managers disabled the detectors after repeated complaints from guests about the loud alarms.
“They knew there was a gas leak problem,” said Carvajal, who quit working at the resort in March after a salary dispute. “Everybody knew the alarm was going off and the detectors were off.”
Two current employees, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of work concerns, also said the hotel manager ignored complaints from both guests and employees about the strong smell of gas.
“Housekeepers reported gas leaks, security guards reported gas leaks, maintenance workers reported gas leaks,” said one employee. According to an employee, the housekeeper who was cleaning the rooms fell ill due to suspected gas poisoning a few days before the bodies of the guests were found.
The bodies of California residents John Heesco and Abby Lutz were found Tuesday night in a room at Rancho Pescadero. Rancho Pescadero has reopened after a major renovation nearly a year ago in El Pescadero, a quiet beach community an hour north of Cabo San Lucas.
The prosecutor’s office in Mexico’s Baja California Sur state told The Associated Press that an autopsy suggested the two had died of “intoxication from an unidentified substance.”
Local police initially said the cause of death was suspected to be gas inhalation.
Hyatt officials have previously said they do not believe the fatalities were related to hotel infrastructure problems or gas leaks. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the resort’s carbon monoxide alarm being disabled.
But new testimony from two paramedics who responded to the fatal crash lends credence to the theory that gas poisoning was likely the cause.
Firefighter brothers Fernando Valencia Sotero and Grisel Valencia Sotero arrived at the hotel late Tuesday after staff found the bodies of Hesco and Lutz.
Officials said the two firefighters became ill as soon as they entered the couple’s hotel room. go fund me An account established to collect medical expenses. They were treated in hospital and released on Friday.
on friday “Good Morning America” InterviewLutz’s stepmother, Raquel Lutz, said the young woman told her family on Monday night that she had spent the night in hospital because she felt sick and thought she had food poisoning. Lutz said she was given fluids via an IV and she felt better.
“She sent a text message [her father] I said goodnight on Monday night and I loved her, and I haven’t heard from her since,” Raquel Lutz said.
In a statement through a publicist, the family described Lutz as “a light to everyone around her”, who is known for her smile and laughter and for “making everyone feel special”.
“We hope that more information will emerge to explain what happened to Abby and why,” the statement said. “This information may help bring the situation under control and prevent future incidents of this nature. We do not want others to experience this tragedy.”
A spokesperson said the Lutz family was traveling to Mexico “to bring Abby back” and could not be reached for further comment.
