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Dominican Republic Tourist Deaths: 2 More American Tourists Added To Mystery List

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – The U.S. State Department has confirmed the deaths of two more Americans in the Dominican Republic over the last three years.

The FBI is investigating the deaths of nine other American tourists who passed away under mysterious circumstances over the last year.

On Friday, the island's tourism minister claimed the rash of deaths are not a mystery.

"All of the deaths that have occurred, the causes have been determined and the results are… there does not exist, there does not exist any mystery as to how they died in the Dominican Republic," Francisco Javier García declared.

Joseph Allen of New Jersey, died in the D.R. last week.

His cause of his death has not been released. Local autopsies concluded most of the other Americans died of alleged respiratory problems or heart attacks.

MORE: New York Woman Vomited Blood After Drink At Dominican Republic Resort Where 3 Americans Died

CBS News is reporting that a team of investigators from the FBI is now in the troubled Caribbean nation. Until now, the bureau has only been running toxicology tests from its labs in Virginia.

MORE: Staten Island Mother Becomes The Latest Person To Mysteriously Die In The Dominican Republic

In the case of a Staten Island woman vacationing on her own, Dominican officials claimed their toxicology machine was broken and no report would be filed.

Local officials also made the shocking claim that another American tourist simply died of "shock" after seeing her husband die.

Lawmakers in the United States are calling on the State Dept. to raise the current travel alert status for tourists heading to the Caribbean island.

List Of Recent American Deaths In The Dominican Republic

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