A 42-year-old yoga teacher from Pennsylvania in the US has died after being swept out to sea in the Dominican Republic — the eighth American tourist death reported in the country in recent weeks.
Surely Miller’s body was recovered by a local fisherman after she vanished from a beach in Cabarete,news outlet Dominican Today reported.
The mum-of-three went out for a swim on Tuesday near the coastal province of Puerto Plata before she was dragged out to sea by a rip current and carried more than 3km from the coast, according to the report.
Ms Miller owned a studio named Surely Yoga, where she also taught classes that “aim to help others to intelligently know and heal their bodies”, according to her website bio.
She said she previously studied in New York, Miami, Orlando, Mexico and the Dominican Republic.
Another local studio where she taught, Tribe Yoga, confirmed her death in a Facebook post.
“Honouring our beloved friend and teacher Surely Miller tomorrow,” the studio said, adding it will hold a class “dedicated to her beautiful spirit”.
Friends and students also took to social media to mourn the teacher’s death.
“Just heartbreaking. Surely Miller was so full of love and life. She will be greatly missed,” Rebecca Olesen wrote on Facebook.
Friends launched a GoFundMe page that will raise money for her three sons, 15-year-old Dylan, 13-year-old Miles and 10-year-old Preston.
“Surely has blessed so many of us with her warm healing touch, and the best thing we can do for her now is make sure her children are taken care of,” the page said.
Following a growing number of fatalities involving American tourists and a mysterious illness, the FBI has begun investigating in the Dominican Republic.
Many of the deaths — and several severe illnesses — involve healthy, middle-aged adults who had taken a drink from their hotel room minibar before suddenly becoming gravely sick.
One of those was Robert Bell Wallace, 67, of California, who officials said died on April 14 during a stay at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in the Dominican resort town of Punta Cana.
Mr Wallace’s cause of death is yet to be determined. But his niece told Fox News her uncle became unwell shortly after drinking a glass of scotch from the minibar in his room before dying in a hospital three days later.
“We have so many questions,” said niece Chloe Arnold. “We don’t want this to happen to anyone else.”
This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission
