Families of 3 US women found dead at Belize beach resort file $100M lawsuit against hotel, travel agency

The families of three young Massachusetts women found dead inside a Belize hotel from carbon monoxide poisoning last year claimed the resort brushed off earlier warnings from guests and failed to install a working detector, according to a lawsuit filed on Tuesday.

Wafae El-Arar, 26, Kaoutar Naqqad, 23, and Imane Mallah, 24, were found dead in their hotel room at the Royal Kahal Beach Resort on Feb. 22, 2025, after investigators found that a “catastrophic failure of safety systems” led to them being fatally exposed to extreme toxic odorless gas, Boston.com reported.

A post-mortem toxicology report determined the trio had no drugs in their bodies, but developed acute pulmonary edema, a buildup of fluid in the lungs, which can happen in severe cases of carbon monoxide exposure.

(L-R) Wafae El-Arar, Imane Mallah, and Kaoutar Naqqad were found dead in their hotel room at the Royal Kahal Beach Resort on Feb. 22, 2025. Hajar El Khalfaoui

The grieving families are seeking $100 million in damages in the federal lawsuit filed in Boston. They claimed the women didn’t realize the danger because carbon monoxide has no smell or color.

“They were overcome by the toxic gas and are believed to have died during the night, … having suffered excruciating conscious pain and no doubt realizing that they were dying,” the complaint stated.

The filing also alleged that the women used the travel booking site Expedia to plan their Belize getaway and were sent “retargeting ads and solicitations” encouraging them to reserve a room at the Royal Kahal resort in San Pedro.

Previous guests sounded the alarm about high carbon monoxide levels and exposure symptoms, even detailing their experiences in Expedia reviews, the lawsuit claimed.

The complaint alleged that Navien, the water heater manufacturer linked to the deadly leak, produced units that were dangerously defective and shoddily installed, and that the hotel was “completed on a shoe-string budget by unqualified handymen.”

Investigators found that a “catastrophic failure of safety systems” led to the women being fatally exposed to extreme toxic odorless gas. News 5 Belize

“This was not an unavoidable accident,” an attorney for the women’s families, Thomas Scolaro, told the outlet.

“It was the foreseeable result of decisions that put safety last and a bottom line first, and our legal system exists to hold those responsible to account.”

“This case will test whether companies that profit from American consumers can be held to account when preventable tragedies occur, or whether they can avoid responsibility by hiding behind borders and technicalities,” Scolaro said.

Nearly a year after losing their loved ones, the families said Tuesday they are “still trying to process the unimaginable.”

“Our daughters and sisters left for vacation and never came home,” the families said in a joint statement Tuesday after the lawsuit was announced, Boston.com reported.

“The disbelief has not faded, and neither has the pain.”