Executive Summary
- Relatives of three Massachusetts women who died in Belize have filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Boston federal court.
- Defendants include the Royal Kahal Beach Resort, travel giant Expedia, and heater manufacturer Navien.
- The lawsuit alleges the resort used a handyman to improperly install a heater and lacked functional CO detectors.
- Expedia is accused of failing to warn guests despite prior complaints of carbon monoxide symptoms at the site.
Relatives of three Massachusetts women who died of carbon monoxide poisoning at a Belize resort in February 2025 filed a wrongful death lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Boston on Tuesday, naming the resort’s owners, travel agency Expedia, and water heater manufacturer Navien as defendants. The complaint alleges that gross negligence, improper installation of equipment, and a failure to warn guests of known hazards led to the deaths of Kaoutar Naqqad, Imane Mallah, and Wafae El Arar.
The three women, graduates of Revere and Malden high schools, were found dead in their room at the Royal Kahal Beach Resort in San Pedro on February 22, 2025, just two days after checking into the “Bird of Paradise” suite. According to the lawsuit, the 38-page filing alleges that the women were overcome by toxic gas due to a tankless hot water heater that was improperly installed and lacked necessary safety features. The suit claims the resort claimed in marketing materials to have carbon monoxide detectors, yet the unit allegedly had no functional alarm.
Edina Bakkal, speaking at a press conference for the law firm representing the families, stated that the goal of the litigation is to hold the parties accountable for prioritizing profit over safety. “No one should go on vacation believing they are safe only to learn the basic protections are missing,” Bakkal said. “We trusted that the places and companies inviting families to stay with them cared about safety as much as they cared about profit. We now know that trust was misplaced.”
The lawsuit details specific allegations against each defendant. It claims the Royal Kahal Beach Resort developers initially hired a Navien-trained company to install the heaters but replaced them with a handyman due to financial issues. Furthermore, the complaint alleges that the Navien NPE-210S heater was “defectively designed” because it lacked an automatic shutoff switch. Regarding Expedia, the lawsuit argues the travel platform should have alerted users to potential health hazards, citing reports that other guests had complained of carbon monoxide-like symptoms prior to the women’s arrival.
Attorneys Thomas Scolaro and Louis J. Muggeo acknowledged the procedural challenges of the case, specifically the effort to force the Canadian-based resort owners and Belize-based defendants to respond to a U.S. court. “This was not an unavoidable accident,” Scolaro said in a statement. “This was the foreseeable result of decisions that put safety last and a bottom line first.”
International Jurisdictional Challenges
This wrongful death filing initiates a complex legal battle centering on cross-border jurisdictional authority and corporate liability. While the plaintiffs seek accountability in a Massachusetts federal court, the defense will likely challenge the venue, given that the incident occurred in Belize and involves foreign entities. The outcome may set a precedent for how U.S. courts adjudicate liability for American travelers injured abroad, particularly regarding the duty of care owed by third-party booking platforms like Expedia in vetting international accommodations for basic safety standards. It is important to note that a civil complaint represents allegations by the plaintiffs, and the defendants have not yet been found liable in a court of law.
