‘We Just Don’t Know What Is Happening’: Oklahoma High School Students Become Mysteriously Ill During Graduation Trip in Dominican Republic

A vacation to the Dominican Republic ended early for Deer Creek High School graduates after several teens in the group fell ill just days after their arrival.

In celebration of graduation, about 40 seniors traveled from Edmond, Oklahoma to the all-inclusive Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Punta Cana earlier this month.

After eating at a Japanese restaurant on the resort, part of the group found themselves spending their vacation in the hospital, Liz McLaughlin, whose daughter became ill, said.

“We just don’t know what is happening,” McLaughlin questioned. “Is it the water? Is it the ice? Is it the food? Is it the food handling? Is it the pesticides? We have no idea what’s going on.”

When Bennett Hill woke up sweating, freezing, and cramping on his second day of the trip, at least six other students were reportedly experiencing similar symptoms.

“We’ve been hooked up to IVs since we first got here with antibiotics, just getting hydrated,” Hill told KOCO. “Anti-nausea medicine, all this stuff because we were just so dehydrated.”

Although the school district released a statement saying that the only students who became sick were the ones who ate at the Japanese restaurant, two Americans have died, and others have fallen ill while staying at the very same resort, according to Fox News.

While the Dominican Republic has been a go-to vacation spot for many Americans, recent headlines have future tourists questioning the safety of traveling to the country altogether.