Mahler Supports Push for Royal Kahal Accountability

Minister of Tourism Anthony Mahler is calling the deaths of three American tourists in San Pedro a “black eye” for Belize, as a wrongful-death lawsuit filed in the United States moves forward. The civil claim stems from the February 2025 deaths of the Massachusetts residents, who were found unresponsive inside their room at the Royal Kahal Beach Resort in San Pedro. While early speculation pointed to a possible overdose, subsequent findings determined the women died from carbon monoxide poisoning, allegedly caused by a buildup of the deadly gas inside the suite. The lawsuit names multiple defendants, including the resort and an architecture firm linked to Julius Espat’s family, alleging design or construction flaws contributed to the tragedy. Espat has said the matter is before the courts, extended condolences to the families, and maintains his company was wrongly named. Today, Minister Mahler said the incident has damaged Belize’s image abroad but stressed that he supports the families’ push for accountability and the need to ensure such a tragedy never happens again.

 

Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism

“The black eye happened already. The three young ladies have passed. Now it’s just a court case. Whatever the courts decide, I will support that. These things should never happen and we should take much more pride and accountability. We should have much more accountability in terms of when we’re building buildings to accommodate people, especially in the tourist sector.”

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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