A raging blaze fanned by strong winds on Friday destroyed a popular beachfront hotel on the southeastern shoreline of the Dominican Republic, rapidly consuming the thatched, palm-leaf roofs of many of the resort’s buildings.
Nearly 1,700 guests were evacuated from the hotel, the Viva Wyndham Dominicus Beach, in Bayahibe, a picturesque coastal town and former fishing village, emergency officials said. At least one person, an Italian tourist, was pronounced dead at a hospital, according to Dominican authorities.
“We are saddened that a guest perished and we send our thoughts to the family while we await autopsy results to determine the cause,” Viva Resorts by Wyndham, the chain that manages the hotel, said in a statement.
The company added that all other guests and staff had been safely evacuated and that the hotel would remain closed until further notice.
By Saturday afternoon, after a 17-hour effort by firefighters to put out the flames, the fire had been controlled and all the guests had been relocated to nearby hotels, according to a statement by Juan Manuel Méndez, the director of the Dominican Republic’s Emergency Operations Center, the agency that coordinates responses to emergencies across the country.
“Technical investigations into the origin of the fire are ongoing,” Mr. Méndez said. But, he added, “preliminary findings suggest that the flames spread rapidly due to wind conditions and the flammable nature of the roofs made of thatch.”
Drone footage circulating on social media on Saturday showed the smoky remains of multiple buildings, dozens of charred palm trees and an apparently intact tennis court.
In a phone interview, Mr. Méndez said that the tourist who died — whom he identified as Francesca Valentino, 45 — did not suffer any burns.
He added that while no other people had died, four emergency responders were affected by heatstroke during the rescue operation. They were all recovering, he said.
Gianmarco Mazzi, Italy’s minister of tourism, told the Italian news agency ANSA that 285 Italian nationals were at the hotel when the fire broke out. A first return flight for 130 of them was scheduled to leave on Saturday.
“A vacation has turned into an unacceptable tragedy,” Mr. Mazzi told ANSA.
Hogla Enecia Pérez contributed reporting from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
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