Don’t ‘jump the gun’

Listen to this article:

David and Michelle Paul died of a mysterious illness while vacationing in Fiji. Picture: SUPPLIED/ABC News

THE mysterious death of American couple Michelle and David Paul last month will not hinder tourist arrivals in the country, says Tourism Minister Premila Kumar.

Mrs Kumar gave this assurance as investigations into the death of the couple continued.

Mrs Kumar said while investigations to ascertain the cause of death were ongoing, Fiji was still a preferred holiday destination for many. She confirmed there were still more tourists coming into the country.

“As you know, serious investigations have been undertaken and just two people have passed away, but there are many more tourists still coming in,” she said.

“It’s two against many and we do not know the reason, that’s why the investigation has been undertaken and we have to wait for it to be completed.”

She said Government was committed to finding out the reasons or the causes that led to the mysterious deaths.

“As a Government, we are committed towards this particular issue and let the investigations complete and then we can talk about that.”

She said because the matter was still being investigated, Fijians should not jump the gun and start making speculations, but wait for the results of the investigations to come out.

Texas residents David and Michelle died from a mystery illness after arriving in Fiji from San Francisco on May 22.

They were holidaying at a resort in Nadi when they both succumbed to the illness.

The Ministry of Health and Medical Services said it was working with the United States Embassy, as well as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and World Health Organization to help determine how the couple died.

Array
(
    [post_type] => post
    [post_status] => publish
    [orderby] => date
    [order] => DESC
    [update_post_term_cache] => 
    [update_post_meta_cache] => 
    [cache_results] => 
    [category__in] => 1
    [posts_per_page] => 4
    [offset] => 0
    [no_found_rows] => 1
    [date_query] => Array
        (
            [0] => Array
                (
                    [after] => Array
                        (
                            [year] => 2023
                            [month] => 12
                            [day] => 19
                        )

                    [inclusive] => 1
                )

        )

)