american tourist killed in mexico 2022

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New Details of Night Shanquella Robinson Was Killed Revealed in Documents Submitted to President Biden

Shanquella Robinson, 25, was vacationing at a luxury resort in Cabo San Lucas with six others when she was killed, reports say

Digital News Writer, PEOPLE

Nearly five months after North Carolina woman Shanquella Robinson was allegedly beaten to death while on a Mexican getaway with a group of people, her family's attorneys are demanding President Joe Biden put pressure on authorities to make an arrest.

Attorneys Ben Crump and Sue-Ann Robinson, who are representing Robinson's family, sent a letter to Biden and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken calling for "swift diplomatic intervention" on the victim's behalf, according to a press release.

In October 2022, Robinson, 25, was vacationing at a luxury resort in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, with six others when she was killed, according to reports.

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Her travel mates allegedly insisted she died of alcohol poisoning , but an autopsy conducted by Mexican authorities showed that her death was caused by violence — specifically, "atlas and medullary dislocation," according to the autopsy.

"In our letter to President Biden and Secretary Blinken, we clearly stated that one of two things needs to happen: either the U.S. extradites Shanquella's killer to Mexico or the U.S. takes jurisdiction of the case and her killer is prosecuted here," Crump said, per the release. "Inaction is not acceptable in this case. Shanquella's family deserves swift justice for her death."

The letter states attorney Sue-Ann Robinson went on a "fact-finding mission" in Mexico where she met with local authorities to discuss the case.

According to Crump and Sue-Ann Robinson, the letter to Biden and Blinken was accompanied by witness statements, Shanquella's autopsy and field reports conducted by local authorities.

Included among these witness statements is an account submitted to authorities in Mexico from an employee at the resort where Robinson stayed.

"She seemed to not fit in with others," the employee statement said, referring to Robinson's demeanor before she joined her travel mates for dinner. "When I introduced myself, she did not greet me or smile. She was indifferent, nothing to do with the atmosphere of celebration. She was out of place at that party."

According to WCNC-TV , the letter also identifies a murder suspect.

Previously, Mexican authorities said they were waiting on the U.S. to extradite an unnamed person who was allegedly involved in Robinson's death before they could move forward with their investigation, per WBTV-TV .

According to The Charlotte Observer , a video appears to show Shanquella being physically assaulted by another woman in a hotel room.

At least two others were present at the time of the alleged beating, ABC News reports.

The State Department did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.

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Mexico wants American extradited on charges in tourist death

CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico — Mexican prosecutors have filed charges against a U.S. woman suspected of killing another American seen being beaten in a viral video.

Prosecutors in the state of Baja California Sur did not name the suspect in the Oct. 29 death of Shanquella Robinson.

But on Thursday, they said they had approached Mexican federal prosecutors and diplomats to try to get the woman extradited to face charges in Mexico.

Robinson’s death at a resort development in San Jose del Cabo shocked people in both countries. The video raised suspicions that Robinson may have died at the hands of people she was traveling with.

Local prosecutor Antonio López Rodríguez said the case was being treated as a potential homicide and an arrest warrant had been issued for the suspect. The group Robinson was traveling with, however, left Mexico after she was found dead in a rented villa.

More on this story

• The mother of Shanquella Robinson, the 25-year-old woman who was found dead in Mexico, said Black social media users are to thank for amplifying her daughter’s case.
• The FBI is investigating death of North Carolina woman in Mexico as family demands answers.
• Video: Hundreds of mourners attended the funeral for Robinson

State prosecutor Daniel de la Rosa Anaya said the suspect was also an American, but did not identify her.

News outlets in Charlotte, North Carolina, reported that the people Robinson was traveling with gave differing versions of how she died, but that an autopsy revealed she died of a severe spinal cord or neck injury.

A video apparently taped at the luxury villa in San Jose del Cabo shows one woman, apparently an American, beating another woman identified as Robinson.

The video has been reposted many times on social media sites. In it, a man with an American accent can be heard saying, “Can you at least fight back?” The man did not appear to intervene in the beating.

2 tourists killed at upscale resort in Mexico

Two visitors from Canada died after being shot on Friday Jan. 21, 2022, at the five-star Hotel Xcaret in Playa del Carmen , which is about 45 miles south of Cancun . A third tourist was also wounded in the gunfire.

The mid-afternoon incident stemmed from an argument among hotel guests near an outdoor dining area, when one guest with a gun started shooting, leaving tourists scrambling for cover. The gunman, who was seen on video surveillance wearing a light blue track suit, is being sought by Mexican local and federal police.

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One person died at the scene and another died at the hospital. A third man was also shot, but survived his injuries. The Quintana Roo state prosecutor's office said that the two Canadian men killed had criminal records including drug trafficking charges.

Related: What it's like traveling to the Cancun area during a COVID-19 spike

This kind of violence is not common in Quintana Roo on the Caribbean side of Mexico where this happened, and it is generally a safe area for tourists. But there have been some incidents there in recent years including the finding of eight bodies in a span of a few days in Cancun in 2018.

There have also been a few more recent violent crimes in the Mayan Riviera region, including an incident in November 2021 when two suspected drug dealers were found dead on a Cancun beach. And the month before that, an American and a German tourist were killed in crossfire between two drug gangs in Tulum.

Related: How to get to Los Cabos on points and miles

The U.S. Department of State issued a warning last month to reconsider Mexico . While COVID-19 was the main reason for the the Level 3 warning issued on Dec. 8, 2021, it also noted: "Violent crime – such as homicide, kidnapping, carjacking, and robbery – is widespread and common in Mexico."

In that warning, Quintana Roo, on the Caribbean side of Mexico where this happened, was in the "exercise increased caution" category. The area, which includes Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum, is very popular with tourists and is usually safe.

The government is stepping up security in tourism areas to keep visitors protected. In fact, more than 1,400 troops from the Mexican National Guard is now patrolling areas of Quintana Roo.

And most experts agree that Mexico remains safe for tourists. In a Washington Post article , Zachary Rabinor, president and CEO of the travel planning company Journey Mexico , said millions of people visit Mexico every year with no problem, and "There's violence like this all over the world, including the U.S.,"

Additional reporting by Clint Henderson.

clock This article was published more than  1 year ago

3 Americans dead in Mexico Airbnb from apparent carbon monoxide poisoning

Three Americans on vacation in Mexico City were found dead at an Airbnb-listed property that they had rented, according to the U.S. State Department and the property rental platform.

Two men and a woman died due to carbon monoxide poisoning at the property, Mexican police said, according to the Associated Press . They were found unresponsive on Oct. 30 at an apartment in the upscale Cuajimalpa district, according to the Spanish newspaper El País. The State Department did not release details on the deceased or their cause of death, though it said that U.S. officials were providing appropriate consular assistance.

Mexico City prosecutors did not return a request for comment sent late Wednesday. The families of the deceased couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

In a statement, Airbnb described the incident as a tragedy. The company said it had suspended bookings at the property where the deaths occurred. “Our priority right now is supporting those impacted as the authorities investigate what happened, and we stand ready to assist with their inquiries,” it added.

The trio went to Mexico to participate in the festivities marking the Day of the Dead , or Día de los Muertos. The holiday — which ran Oct. 31 to Nov. 2 — has its origins in ancient Aztec Indigenous traditions and commemorates death as an essential element of life.

The woman involved had told her boyfriend before her death that she felt like she had been drugged, according to El País, which viewed messages between the couple. “Like I’ve taken ecstasy, but I haven’t,” she reportedly wrote. She was also reportedly vomiting and said she was feeling fatigued.

Tourist drug demand is bringing cartel violence to Mexico’s most popular resorts

Around the time the three U.S. nationals died, three American siblings vacationing in Mexico also suffered carbon monoxide poisoning, according to a GoFundMe webpage set up by a family friend and local media reports. One of them died. The other two were hospitalized.

Carbon monoxide is an odorless and colorless gas that kills people by slowly depleting them of oxygen. When people breathe in the gas, it prevents red blood cells from carrying sufficient oxygen to critical organs such as the brain and heart. Initial symptoms may include dizziness and vomiting. More than 430 people are accidentally killed by the gas each year in the United States every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC advises Americans to install a carbon monoxide detector in their homes, and to check the batteries every six months. The gas can be found in fumes produced by furnaces, stoves, lanterns and gas ranges, or in areas near burning charcoal and wood. Infants, the elderly and people with chronic heart disease, anemia, or breathing problems are most at risk, according to the public health body .

Robyn Huang and Bryan Pietsch contributed to this report.

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Along Mexico’s Riviera Maya, Tourists, Drugs and Violence

On the stretch of beaches from Cancún to Tulum, there have been a number of gang-related incidents in which international visitors have been killed or injured. But that hasn’t stopped the vacationers from coming.

By Elisabeth Malkin

The headlines out of Mexico have been jarring. Two women were killed in the crossfire when rival gangs started shooting at a popular sidewalk restaurant in Tulum. Gunmen battled on a beach near Puerto Morelos as tourists scrambled into a Hyatt hotel for cover. A killer-for-hire bought a day pass to an all-inclusive resort in Playa del Carmen to carry out a hit in a poolside snack bar.

But the spate of violent incidents along the country’s Riviera Maya, the strand of Caribbean beaches stretching 80 miles south of Cancún to the Mayan ruins of Tulum , over the past few months hasn’t seemed to scare off the vacationers who arrived by the millions last year to spend a pandemic holiday on the beach, dive the coral reefs or dance in boho bars.

“It’s all like drug-related violence so it doesn’t affect us,” said Elizabeth Sedgemore, 50, of Seattle, who was walking in Puerto Morelos one recent noon looking for a restaurant with her husband, Gregory, 59. He added: “We just don’t put ourselves in situations where we’re going to be in trouble. We don’t do drugs, we don’t deal drugs, we don’t stay out late — so we feel very safe.”

The region, part of the state of Quintana Roo, quickly reopened after the first few months of the pandemic, as Mexico welcomed foreign tourists while much of the world stayed closed. The country imposed not a single restriction on entry by air — travelers, vaccinated or unvaccinated, could come in without testing for the coronavirus and faced no quarantines. Within Mexico, shutdowns varied according to state and even within Quintana Roo as the pandemic progressed, with limits on occupancy in hotels and restaurants and widespread use of masks indoors.

Tourists often seemed to take the rules more lightly than most Mexicans, who were hit hard by the pandemic. Mexico has confirmed more than 315,000 deaths from Covid-19 but experts believe the toll is much higher. Government figures show that during the pandemic, excess mortality, or the number of deaths above what would have expected under “normal” conditions, has climbed above 667,000.

But as other resort areas enforced restrictions, Tulum, which markets its hippy chic spirituality , continued to party , and in November 2020, it hosted a five-day festival that became a coronavirus superspreader event.

Now that tourists have returned in full force to all of the Riviera Maya, its long-festering problems are coming into focus. Alongside the glitz of the region’s all-inclusive resorts, authorities and business groups say, are boomtowns where entrenched criminal gangs operate openly to sell drugs and extort local businesses.

“Unfortunately people come to consume drugs and alcohol,” said Óscar Montes de Oca, the prosecutor for the state of Quintana Roo. “They come to do things they wouldn’t do at home. This demand creates a supply and that generates all the conflict.”

The warning signs have been flashing for several years, particularly in the region’s largest town, Playa del Carmen, where an attack on an international music festival in 2017 killed five people. In 2019, gunmen opened fire in a local working-class bar , killing seven men.

What is new is how openly the gangs have taken their battles to the heart of tourist zones.

The recent spate began in Tulum on Oct. 20, when the leader of a gang darted into La Malquerida restaurant to escape an attack from rivals, who instead accidentally killed a woman from Germany and an Indian-born woman who lived in California. Three other European tourists were injured.

Some two weeks later, on Nov. 4, two gangs engaged in a shootout on a beach near Puerto Morelos called Bahía Petempich, as tourists at the Hyatt Ziva Riviera Cancún hotel fled into the lobby, where crouching staff ushered them up the stairs into safe rooms. Two of the gunmen were killed and a tourist from Utah was injured.

“What makes it shocking is that you feel safe at these all-inclusive resorts,” said Mike Sington, a retired entertainment executive from Los Angeles who was staying at the Hyatt and posted video of the hotel guests in hiding. “They’re all walled off and secured off,” he said.

At the Hotel Xcaret in Playa del Carmen on Jan. 21, a gunman managed to gain entry to the hotel grounds where, authorities say, he shot and killed two Canadian men and injured the wife of one of them. The murder victims had ties to organized crime in Canada , Mr. Montes de Oca said, adding that they were killed over a debt related to arms and drug trafficking. A man accused of scouting the complex for several days before the hit and driving the getaway car, as well as a Canadian woman who was seen speaking to the hit man before the shooting, are both under arrest.

Those killings were followed by the murder of the Argentine manager of a beach club in Playa del Carmen on Jan. 25. Authorities say that he was killed by members of a gang that had planned a giant party at the club. When municipal authorities blocked the event, the gang took revenge on the club.

And the violence has continued. On Feb. 19, rival drug dealers opened fire at Art Beach Tulum , a restaurant on the outskirts of Tulum where an order of sea bass with asparagus risotto and seaweed cream goes for $35. Two of the dealers were killed.

That event highlighted how Tulum in particular has become a center for drug consumption in the Riviera Maya. Ten gangs have carved up sales in the area, Mr. Montes de Oca said, and when they encroach on each other’s territory, what “begins as a minor crime, selling drugs, ends in tragedy.”

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Reaction to a clampdown

Local authorities say that the latest round of violence is a reaction to the state’s efforts to clamp down on crime, after law enforcement was ignored under previous state governments. Police have moved cartels off the beaches and main streets where dealers sell souvenirs or offer massages as cover. Investigations of gangs that sell drugs in restaurants and bars have led to the arrest of hundreds of gang leaders, said Lucio Hernández Gutiérrez, the secretary of public security for Quintana Roo.

The groups “want to continue their hold on these spaces that give them exorbitant profits,” he said.

With investment in police training and technology, statewide rates for homicide and most violent crimes have fallen over the past three years, Mr. Montes de Oca said, but he acknowledged that the recent violence had created a problem for the state. “These events occur in iconic places that are very vulnerable in terms of media and this affects the perception of safety in the state a lot,” he said.

More than 6.6 million foreign tourists flew to Cancún and the Riviera Maya last year, according to the Mexican tourism ministry, with more arriving on cruise ships or domestic Mexican flights, and all of them except a handful enjoyed a peaceful holiday. It is Mexicans who overwhelmingly suffer the weight of the violence and it crosses all classes, as it has across much of the country. Construction workers on a luxury hotel site were extorted and co-opted by drug cartels. A candidate for mayor of Puerto Morelos was shot and killed in a restaurant. Taxi drivers in Tulum are killed in their cars and restaurant owners say that extortionists leave them handwritten messages accompanied by a warning bullet.

Since the outbreak of violence in tourist areas, Quintana Roo law enforcement officials have moved quickly to announce arrests in each case. In December, an additional contingent of about 1,500 members of Mexico’s National Guard began patrolling the beaches in a sign of how seriously the federal government has taken the threat to Mexico’s tourist industry.

But many question how sustainable that approach is. “For me, it’s just a facade,” said Fabiola Cortés, a lawyer and journalist who helped expose the dealings of Quintana Roo’s previous governor . He is now in jail, facing trial on corruption charges. “When high-impact events take place, they just detain anybody.”

David Ortiz Mena, the president of Tulum’s hotel association, said that Tulum’s rapid growth over the past few years had been uncontrolled, with no thought given to the effect of throwing jungle parties for 5,000 people. He acknowledged that the authorities had begun to make some progress, but added, “The fact that the police can’t grow along with the population is also a problem of sustainability.”

Growing tourist numbers

For now, it seems that most tourists who have heard of the killings seem willing to weigh the risks and make the trip to the Riviera Maya.

In December, when four out of five members of Pam Singh’s family had Covid-19, she decided that “we have to get something great out of this” and booked a holiday to take advantage of the family’s post-illness immunity.

Ms. Singh, 47, who lives in Brooklyn, had already traveled to Puerto Vallarta, on Mexico’s Pacific Coast, and was looking for a destination that was easy to reach. “The scenery is beautiful, the hospitality is warm and the food is delicious,” she said. “It’s hard to argue with everything that Mexico has to offer.”

Researching reviews online, she settled on a week at an all-inclusive resort in Puerto Morelos, which promised activities for her three children, age 8 to 15, and good food.

She also saw the news of violence. “I didn’t find it especially alarming,” she said by phone from her hotel, noting that the resort was in a self-contained area. “I understand that it was out of ordinary for the region.”

But Ms. Singh, an international human rights lawyer, and her husband, Jeff Locke, 49, a teacher, may have a higher risk threshold than tourists coming from a placid rural area, she said. “We live in New York City and it’s not that crime isn’t increasing. You learn to live with it and take precautions. A vacation isn’t different.”

That seems to be the attitude many tourists are taking. Almost none of the recent inquiries to Del Sol Travels , which plans destination weddings in the Riviera Maya, have dealt with security, said Matt Adcock, the company’s owner.

“Do these people have concerns? I think they do,” said Mr. Adcock, an Atlanta native who has lived in Playa del Carmen since 2007. He thinks people have gotten numb during the pandemic. “I believe that they are weighing the risk to the reward and making the decision.”

The company has booked six weddings this year through April and is handling inquiries for 2023.

Missy Skoog, a travel adviser for Travel Leaders in Minneapolis said the overwhelming concern she hears from vacationers thinking of going to the Riviera Maya is the risk of getting stuck in Mexico because they test positive for the coronavirus before their flight back to the United States.

Ms. Skoog said the recent events are isolated incidents. If she felt the region, which she visits three or four times a year, weren’t safe, she wouldn’t send people to the Riviera Maya, which is one of her top-selling regions this year. “We have gained violence here,” Ms. Skoog said, referring to Minneapolis. “They have gained violence there.”

Not all tourists are convinced. Atul Tiwary, 27, a trader in the financial services industry in New York who has traveled several times to the Riviera Maya in the past, was planning to return in March with three friends. “One person proposed the idea of reconsidering because of this thing popping up and everyone agreed.” The group switched its destination to Cabo San Lucas.

“I’d say I’m a pretty adventurous traveler in terms of far-flung cultures,” he said. “What concerns me is violent crime that is pretty visible as a tourist.”

At the time of the shooting at the Hyatt Ziva Riviera Cancún, Vacaya , an L.G.B.T.Q. travel agency, had a group of about 700 guests at the hotel, including Mr. Sington. It was the third annual trip that Vacaya had booked to the Riviera Maya. This coming year in November, it will go to Puerto Vallarta instead, but the company had decided to change before the shooting incident, for variety. “We have not abandoned Riviera Maya,” wrote Vacaya’s co-founder Patrick Gunn in an email. “But we’ll consider the overall climate and improvements made by local authorities before heading back.”

Fear of gangs

Some local restaurants see drug sales as “a necessary evil,” said a restaurant owner with knowledge of the problem, who asked not to be identified by name because of fear of violent reprisal. Cartels arrive and force the restaurant to place a dealer inside the restaurant or at the entrance, he said. Owners don’t go to the authorities because they fear that corruption in the police means their complaint will get back to the gangs.

“There is always an option,” said James Tobin, a Cancún real estate agent and anti-crime activist who now serves on the federal government’s National Public Safety Council. “The option is to report or close down.”

“If all citizens believe that the police are corrupt, then the only ones who gain are organized crime,” he added.

Other business leaders agree that the government has shown willingness to attack crime and point to the arrests made after each incident, as well as broader investigations to determine the leaders of the gangs who carried out the shootings. “It’s not an overnight job,” said Iván Ferrat Mancera, the president of the Business Coordinating Council of the Caribbean, the region’s main alliance of business groups and nonprofit organizations. “If you confront them, there will be deaths.”

None of that seemed to be a worry for Angelica and Vincent Shields of New York, who are in their 70s and have been coming to Puerto Morelos for 20 years. “We got our vaccine and we got on the plane,” Mr. Shields said.

“We come here for a month and we feel safe,” said Ms. Shields, who said she was reassured by the presence of the National Guard. “Back home in New York, I see them as well.”

“I would just like to say, Viva Mexico, the people are great and the food is fantastic.” Not to mention, she added, the margaritas.

Alejandro Castro contributed reporting from the Riviera Maya.

Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram , Twitter and Facebook . And sign up for our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter to receive expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Dreaming up a future getaway or just armchair traveling? Check out our 52 Places for a Changed World for 2022.

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Mexico investigates death of US tourist seen in viral fight video

Cause of death seemed to be severe spinal cord injury, but officials cannot confirm.

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Mexican prosecutors said Thursday they have opened an investigation into the death of a U.S. woman seen being beaten in a video that has gone viral .

Prosecutors in the state of Baja California Sur said in a statement they are investigating the death of a woman they identified only as a foreigner, at a resort development in the town of San Jose del Cabo.

A state official who was not authorized to be quoted by name confirmed the victim was Shanquella Robinson. The official confirmed that the group she had been traveling with had since left Mexico.

A video apparently taped at a luxury villa in San Jose del Cabo shows one woman, apparently an American, beating another woman.

BAHAMAS SENDS SAMPLES TO US LABS FROM 3 TOURISTS WHO DIED AT SANDALS RESORT

The video has been reposted many times on social media sites. In it, a man with an American accent can be heard saying "Can you at least fight back?" The man did not appear to intervene in the beating.

Prosecutors said police found Robinson dead at the villa on Oct. 29.

The Charlotte, North Carolina station Queen City News published a report saying Robinson died of a severe spinal cord injury.

In Mexico, a tourist was killed on Oct. 29 who was seen in a viral video being beaten. Prosecutors investigating the death of the woman said she died from a severe spinal cord injury. Pictured: Pharmacies and souvenir shops in the city centre of San Jose del Cabo on the peninsula of Baja California Sur, Mexico. (Marica van der Meer/Arterra/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Mexican officials said they could not confirm that was the cause of death, because it was part of an ongoing investigation.

The video raised questions about why nobody intervened in the purported beating, or why people she was traveling with would have beaten her.

In another case in a different part of Baja California Sur, prosecutors said they had arrested three men and one woman in the Oct. 25 disappearance of another American , identified as Rodney Davis, 73.

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Davis was last seen near El Juncalito beach in the township of Loreto, well to the north of San Jose del Cabo.

The three suspects face kidnapping charges. Davis's body was found two days later on a nearby highway.

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Four found dead in Mexico’s Cancún beach resort

No immediate information on nationalities or identities in latest violence to hit popular holiday destination

Four dead bodies have been found near a beach in the Mexican resort city of Cancún, in the latest incident of violence to hit the popular holiday destination.

There was no immediate information on the nationalities or identities of the victims. The announcement of the deaths came less that a week after a US tourist was shot in the leg in the nearby town of Puerto Morelos.

Prosecutors originally said three bodies were found on Monday in a lot near one of Cancún’s beachside hotels along the Kukulkan Boulevard. They then added that a fourth body was found in the undergrowth on the same lot, bringing to four the number of victims.

Prosecutors in the Caribbean coast state of Quintana Roo said two suspects had been detained in the killings. They said the deaths were under investigation, but did not give a cause of death.

Last week in Puerto Morelos, a US tourist was approached by several suspects, and they shot him in the leg. The motive remains under investigation. The wounded man was taken to a hospital in Cancún for treatment, and his injury was judged to be not life-threatening.

The US state department issued a travel alert earlier this month warning travelers to “exercise increased caution”, especially after dark, at Mexico’s Caribbean beach resorts like Cancún, Playa del Carmen and Tulum, which have been plagued by drug gang violence in the past.

Cancún and the Mayan Riviera to its south, are the crown jewels of Mexico’s tourism industry, attracting millions of tourists each year.

But the region has been plagued by violence as drug cartels dispute extortion rackets and local drug markets.

In 2022, two Canadians were killed in Playa del Carmen, apparently because of debts between international drug and weapons trafficking gangs .

In 2021, farther south in the laid-back destination of Tulum, two tourists – one a California travel blogger born in India and the other German – were killed when they apparently were caught in the crossfire of a gunfight between rival drug dealers.

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Shootouts and murdered tourists: Why the FBI has set its sights on the Mexican paradise of Quintana Roo

The recent string of killings in the caribbean has sounded alarm bells in the us, where authorities have issued new travel alerts for “violence and criminal activity”.

It’s been hard for them to admit it, but the Mexican authorities are already speaking openly about the ever-greater presence of organized crime in Quintana Roo. The heart of the Mexican Caribbean has, since last year, been racking up a string of incidents that bear the hallmarks of drug gangs: killings, shootings, and bodies left on the street as a message.

Just in Playa del Carmen, a fishing village that has become a city-resort, there were recently two murders with the same pattern in the space of a week. Given that it is a destination for large numbers of US tourists, alarms have begun ringing for the US authorities. The FBI has taken steps given the situation, as Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador made clear on Friday. He called on transparency from the US ambassador in the country, Ken Salazar.

The Friday before, two Canadian tourists were shot dead in Hotel Xcaret, the famous theme park on the Mexican Rivera Maya, not far from Playa del Carmen. Five days later, last Wednesday, the manager of another business, the Mamitas Beach Club – barely 15 minutes away by car – was found in the bathrooms of his establishment with two shots to the head. The state attorney, Oscar Montes de Oca, has confirmed that these incidents are related to drug trafficking.

The two incidents, which come on the heels of a long list of crimes over the last year, have led to the intervention of the FBI in this location, which is the jewel in the crown of the Mexican tourist sector , with more than 12 million visitors a year – nearly half of them from the United States.

“The FBI has just been involved in a matter in Quintana Roo and we are calling on the ambassador of the United States to report to us about this participation – if there was a report, if there was cooperation in line with the rules,” stated López Obrador during his morning press conference in the National Palace on Friday.

The message of the Mexican president comes in the context of the new status of US agencies in their southern neighbor. In December 2020, shortly before US President Joe Biden took office, López Obrador took swift action to change the national security law to put an end to the activities of foreign agents within the country’s borders. The move had a clear target: the United States and its police and intelligence agencies, which have been operating with ease in the entire Mexican territory for more than a decade and that have worked to arrest and extradite dozens of criminals, some of the stature of the infamous “El Chapo,” or Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera, to give the now-incarcerated drug lord his full name.

The spark that prompted this change in policy was the national embarrassment over the arrest of General Salvador Cienfuegos . The head of the Armed Forces during the government of Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018) was captured and accused by the US authorities of being at the service of a cartel without having informed any Mexican authorities about any investigation. With the reform to the law, Mexico was seeking to impose strict controls on agencies such as the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and FBI or of any foreign power charged with police work within Mexican territory.

The growth of the violence in Quintana Roo has also prompted a rise in warning messages from the US authorities to its citizens about travel to the Mexican Caribbean. “Criminal activity and violence may occur throughout the state, including areas frequented by US citizen visitors,” reads the emergency alert warning for American citizens from the State Department. The US consulate in Mérida, the capital of the neighboring state of Yucatán, once again underlined the security alert this week, “in light of recent security incidents and criminal activity in popular tourist destinations including Cancun, Playa Del Carmen, and Tulum [...].”

The blows from organized crime in the Mexican Caribbean have been a constant in recent months. At the start of November last year, an armed group burst into another exclusive hotel nearby and killed two people in the reception. The sight of 15 men carrying heavy weapons, and prompting terror among the tourists, left no alternative. The authorities had to admit the obvious: this was a clash between rival drug gangs.

That same week, the bound body of a man was left in a park in Cancún. A month before, in October, a stray bullet in a restaurant in Tulum – another of the most popular destinations – killed an Indian and a German tourist, as well as injuring another three diners. In September, a taxi driver and a security guard were killed in another shooting in the area. And in August, a man died after being shot in the back of the head, also in Tulum.

According to the latest Envipe survey about the public perception of safety in the country, used as one of the official thermometers on violence in the country, eight out of 10 inhabitants of Quintana Roo feel unsafe.

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Mob in Mexico brutally beats suspected kidnapper to death hours before Holy Week procession

The Good Friday Eve religious procession, which dates back centuries in the old Mexican silver-mining town of Taxco, went off as planned Thursday night despite the mob killing of a woman earlier in the day.

A woman suspected in the kidnapping and killing of an 8-year-old girl, is dragged out of a police vehicle by a mob in Taxco, Mexico, Thursday, March 28, 2024. Police then picked her up off the ground and took her away. The Guerrero state prosecutors’ office later confirmed the woman died of her injuries. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

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A mob beats a woman they suspect of kidnapping and killing an 8-year-old girl, after dragging her out of a police vehicle, in Taxco, Mexico, Thursday, March 28, 2024. Police then picked her up and took her away. The Guerrero state prosecutors’ office later confirmed the woman died of her injuries. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

ADDS THAT THE WOMAN DIED - A mob beats a woman they suspect of kidnapping and killing an 8-year-old girl, after dragging her out of a police vehicle, in Taxco, Mexico, Thursday, March 28, 2024. Police then picked her up and took her away. The Guerrero state prosecutors’ office later confirmed the woman died of her injuries. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Residents gather as the coffin that contain the remains of an 8-year-old girl is delivered to family, in Taxco, Mexico, Thursday, March 28, 2024. The 8-year-old girl disappeared Wednesday; her body was found on a road on the outskirts of the city early Thursday. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Funeral workers carry the coffin that contain the remains of an 8-year-old girl, in Taxco, Mexico, Thursday, March 28, 2024. The 8-year-old girl disappeared Wednesday; her body was found on a road on the outskirts of the city early Thursday. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

A relative of an 8-year-old girl, who was kidnapped the previous day, weeps as her body is handed over to family in Taxco, Mexico, Thursday, March 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

A relative mourns as funeral workers carry the coffin that contain the remains of an 8-year-old girl, in Taxco, Mexico, Thursday, March 28, 2024. The 8-year-old girl disappeared Wednesday; her body was found on a road on the outskirts of the city early Thursday. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

A woman holds a sign with a message that reads in Spanish: “Justice for Cami” in reference to an 8-year-old girl who disappeared the previous day, in Taxco, Mexico, Thursday, March 28, 2024. The 8-year-old girl disappeared Wednesday; her body was found on a road on the outskirts of the city early Thursday. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

A woman wipes away tears during a demonstration protesting the kidnapping and killing of an 8-year-old girl, in the main square of Taxco, Mexico, Thursday, March 28, 2024. Hours earlier a mob beat a woman to death because she was suspected of kidnapping and killing the young girl. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Women chant the word “justice” during a demonstration protesting the kidnapping and killing of an 8-year-old girl, in the main square of Taxco, Mexico, Thursday, March 28, 2024. Hours earlier a mob beat a woman to death because she was suspected of kidnapping and killing the young girl. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

A woman chants the Spanish word for “justice” during a demonstration protesting the kidnapping and killing of an 8-year-old girl, in the main square of Taxco, Mexico, Thursday, March 28, 2024. Hours earlier a mob beat a woman to death because she was suspected of kidnapping and killing the young girl. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

A woman carries her daughter during a demonstration protesting the kidnapping and killing of an 8-year-old girl, in the main square of Taxco, Mexico, Thursday, March 28, 2024. Hours earlier a mob beat a woman to death because she was suspected of kidnapping and killing the young girl. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

A woman holds a sign with a message that loosely translates from Spanish: “Children should not be harmed”, during a demonstration protesting the kidnapping and killing of an 8-year-old girl, in the main square of Taxco, Mexico, Thursday, March 28, 2024. Hours earlier a mob beat a woman to death because she was suspected of kidnapping and killing the young girl. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

A bare-footed penitent walks in a Holy Week procession, in Taxco, Mexico, Thursday, March 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Penitents carry a bundle of thorny branches during a Holy Week procession in Taxco, Mexico, Thursday, March 28, 2024. In traditional processions that last from Thursday evening into the early morning hours of Friday, hooded penitents drag chains and shoulder the thorny bundles through the streets, as some flog themselves with nail-studded whips meant to bring them closer to God. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

TAXCO, Mexico (AP) — A mob in the Mexican tourist city of Taxco brutally beat a woman to death Thursday because she was suspected of kidnapping and killing a young girl, rampaging just hours before the city’s famous Holy Week procession.

The mob formed after an 8-year-old girl disappeared Wednesday. Her body was found on a road on the outskirts of the city early Thursday. Security camera footage appeared to show a woman and a man loading a bundle, which may have been the girl’s body, into a taxi.

The mob surrounded the woman’s house Thursday, threatening to drag her out. Police took the woman into the bed of a police pickup truck, but then stood by — apparently intimidated by the crowd — as members of the mob dragged her out of the truck and down onto the street where they stomped, kicked and pummeled her until she lay, partly stripped and motionless.

Police then picked her up and took her away, leaving the pavement stained with blood. The Guerrero state prosecutors’ office later confirmed the woman died of her injuries.

“This is the result of the bad government we have,” said a member of the mob, who gave her name as Andrea but refused to give her last name. “This isn’t the first time this kind of thing has happened,” she said, referring to the murder of the girl, “but this is the first time the people have done something.”

“We are fed up,” she said. “This time it was an 8-year-old girl.”

The mayor of Taxco, Mario Figueroa, said he shared residents’ outrage over the killing. Figueroa said a total of three people beaten by the mob — the woman and two men — had been taken away by police. Video from the scene suggested they had also been beaten, though The Associated Press witnessed only the beating of the woman.

The state prosecutors’ office said the two men were hospitalized. There was no immediate information on their condition.

In a statement issued soon after the event, Figueroa complained he did not get any help from the state government for his small, outnumbered municipal police force.

“Unfortunately, up to now we have not received any help or answers,” Figueroa said.

The Good Friday eve religious procession, which dates back centuries in the old silver-mining town, went off as planned Thursday night.

People crowded Taxco’s colonial streets to watch hooded men walking while whipping themselves or carrying heavy bundles of thorns across their bare shoulders in penitence to emulate the suffering of Jesus Christ carrying the cross.

But the earlier flash of violence cast a pall over the already solemn procession, which draws thousands to the small town.

Many participants wore small white ribbons of mourning.

“I never thought that in a touristic place like Taxco we would experience a lynching,” said Felipa Lagunas, a local elementary school teacher. “I saw it as something distant, in places far from civilization ... I never imagined that my community would experience this on such a special day.”

Mob attacks in rural Mexico are common . In 2018, two men were torched by an angry crowd in the central state of Puebla, and the next day a man and woman were dragged from their vehicle, beaten and set afire in the neighboring state of Hidalgo.

But Taxco and other cities in Guerrero state have been particularly prone to violence.

In late January, Taxco endured a days-long strike by private taxi and van drivers who suffered threats from one of several drug gangs fighting for control of the area. The situation was so bad that police had to give people rides in the back of their patrol vehicles.

Around the same time, the bullet-ridden bodies of two detectives were found on the outskirts of Taxco. Local media said their bodies showed signs of torture.

In February, Figueroa’s own bulletproof car was shot up by gunmen on motorcycles.

In Taxco and throughout Guerrero state, drug cartels and gangs routinely prey on the local population, demanding protection payments from store owners, taxi and bus drivers. They kill those who refuse to pay.

Residents said they have had enough, even though the violence may further affect tourism.

“We know the town lives off of Holy Week (tourism) and that this is going to mess it up. There will be a lot of people who won’t want to come anymore,” said Andrea, the woman who was in the mob. “We make our living off tourism, but we cannot continue to allow them to do these things to us.”

Associated Press writer Mark Stevenson in Mexico City contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

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Paradise lost: these tourists had tragic caribbean, mexico vacations.

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Tourists on tropical vacations have been plagued by trouble in paradise in recent years — including mysterious poisonings, unsolved disappearances and one couple’s tragic honeymoon murder.

Last week, American tourists Robbie Phillips, 65, Michael Phillips, 68 , and Vincent Chiarella, 64, became the latest to have their dream trips turn into nightmares, when they suddenly fell ill and died mysteriously at the swanky Sandals Emerald Bay resort in the Bahamas.

The case reignited fear surrounding strange and violent deaths at vacation hotspots in the Caribbean and Mexico. 

Here are some examples of where paradise was lost:

Sativa Transue. Cancún, Mexico. November, 2021.

The 26-year-old Washington state woman planned to spend Thanksgiving relaxing in the sun with her boyfriend,  Taylor Allen.

But the day after arriving, she was reportedly found “beaten to a bloody pulp”  in a room at the $200-a-night All Ritmo Resort.

Allen was quickly arrested by Mexican authorities and charged with killing her.

Elijah Snow. Cancun,  Mexico. July 2021.

The 35 -year-old Texas firefighter was celebrating a wedding anniversary with his wife, Jamie, when he disappeared just hours after checking into the Royalton Chic Cancún Resort & Spa.

His body was found the next morning, stuffed into a small window on an isolated strip of the Sunset Royal Beach.

Despite multiple bruises and a gash on his head, Mexican officials ruled his death an accident.

Nathaniel Holmes and Cynthia Ann Day. Dominican Republic. June 2019

The bodies of Day, 50, and her fiancé Holmes, 63, were found in their room at the Bahia Principe hotel at the Playa Nueva Romana resort.

They reportedly suffered respiratory failure amid a string of tourists deaths on the island in the summer of 2019.

Vittorio Caruso,  Dominican Republic. June, 2019

The 56-year-old Long Island pizzeria owner mysteriously died while staying at the Boca Chica Resort in Santo Domingo after “drinking something,” according to his sister-in-law, Lisa Maria Caruso.

He was the 10th American to die in the Dominican Republic during the time period. Authorities in the country later said he suffered from respiratory and heart failure.

Jerry Curran. Dominican Republic, January, 2019.

The 78-year-old former police officer from Bedford, Ohio, fell ill after having dinner and drinks with his wife, Janet, at the Dreams Resort in Punta Cana.

He was rushed to a hospital after he began vomiting and became unresponsive.

His official cause of death was pulmonary edema, cerebral hypoxia and severe encephalitic cranial trauma.

David Harrison. Dominican Republic, July 2018.

The 45-year-old Maryland man died suspiciously while celebrating a wedding anniversary at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Punta Cana.

Harrison reportedly woke up struggling to breath and covered in sweat, according to his wife, Dawn McCoy.

McCoy later said staff at the hotel tried to pressure her into having his body cremated before returning to the US.  Methanol poisoning, linked to bootleg liquor, was eyed as the cause of his death.

Robert Bell Wallace. Dominican Republic, 2018.

The 67-year-old California man died after drinking from the minibar in his room at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino resort in Punta Cana.

His family called his death into question after learning that three other Americans had died suddenly within five days of each other at another all-inclusive resort on the island in May 2019.

Antonio Reyes. Dominican Republic. August, 2017.

The Wake County, North Carolina man died suddenly during his stay at the Bahia Principe resort in Punta Cana.

His death was ruled a heart attack. But his daughter, Jenaye Davenport, later called into question the circumstances, saying, “It was just strange because he was in perfect health.”

The Esmond Family. St. John, US Virgin Islands. March, 2015.

Delaware school administrator Steve Esmond and his two sons, Ryan and Sean, were seriously sickened by pesticides and left unconscious in their luxury villa in the US Virgin Island of St. John.

Steve Esmond was left paralyzed and unable to speak more than a year later, and the boys were left unconscious for more than a month.

The pest control firm Terminix agreed to pay the family $87 million because the poison sprayed by their workers has been banned.

Monica Beresford-Redman. Cancún, Mexico. April 2010.

The 41-year-old wife of former “Survivor” producer Bruce Beresford-Redman was beaten and strangled to death while vacationing with her family at the posh Moon Palace resort.

The couple had taken the trip with the goal of working on their marriage — but her naked body was found dumped naked into a sewage tank at the hotel.

In 2015, her husband was convicted of her murder in Mexico.

Ben and Catherine Mullany. Antigua, 2008.

The 31-year-old couple from Pontardawe, Wales, were both fatally shot in the back of their heads at a luxurious beachside hotel room while on their honeymoon.

The assailant robbed them of a digital camera, cash and mobile phone before fleeing.

 Catherine, a doctor, died instantly and Ben, a former police officer, died a week later. In July 2011, Kaniel Martin and Avie Howell were sentenced to life in prison for their murders.

Natalee Holloway. Aruba, May 2005

The Alabama teen went missing while on a high school graduation trip with friends in a disappearance that captivated the country for years.

Despite a slew of theories and even reported “sightings,”  the case remains unsolved, and her body was never found.

A man who has been linked to her killing, Joran van der Sloot, is now serving a 28-year behind bars in Peru for the slaying of another young woman.

Robbie and Michael Phillips, and Vincent Chiarella. Exuma, Bahamas. May 2022.

The Phillips, who hail from Tennessee, were discovered dead in a villa at the luxury Sandals Emerald Bay resort after seeking medical treatment for feeling sick.

Vincent Chiarella, 64, of Florida also died under mysterious circumstances in a separate nearby villa at the hotel the same night. His wife was left seriously ill and hospitalized.

The cause has not yet been determined. Police said blood samples have been taken from all the victims and sent to a lab in Philadelphia for toxicology tests.

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See the full list of past total solar eclipses in the U.S. since 1778

By Kerry Breen

Updated on: April 9, 2024 / 4:36 AM EDT / CBS News

A  rare total solar eclipse was visible in parts of the United States Monday. Those in the path of totality  had the opportunity to see the sun be fully covered by the moon for several minutes.

Total solar eclipses are rare , and aren't often visible from the U.S. The last time one occurred here  was in 2017 , and the U.S. won't see another until 2044 .

Here's a list of all the times a total solar eclipse has been recorded in the United States. 

Total solar eclipse in the U.S. during the 18th century

The first recorded total solar eclipse was in 1778, according to NASA , just a few short years after the United States became an independent country. The eclipse was visible from the Carolinas to New England, and was noted by historical figures like Thomas Jefferson, according to Mount Vernon , the museum established in former President George Washington's estate. Troops in Washington's army also noted the event. 

List of total solar eclipses in the U.S. during the 19th century

1806: The first total solar eclipse of the 1800s occurred in 1806, according to the National Parks Service . The path of that eclipse would have crossed from Arizona, through the Midwest and into New England, according to NASA . 

1869: The next total solar eclipse was recorded in 1869. The path of totality stretched from Alaska to the Carolinas, according to NASA . Photos of the event were published in Harper's Magazine, the service said, the first mass publication to do so. 

1878: The next total solar eclipse occurred in 1878, and the path of totality arced from Alaska through Louisiana, according to NASA . It was studied by an all-woman team of astronomers, according to the parks service, and Thomas Edison himself traveled to see the event, bringing scientific equipment to study the sun's corona during the eclipse. 

List of total solar eclipses in the U.S. during the 20th century

1900: The first eclipse of the 20th century was in 1900, according to the parks service. The path of totality of that eclipse brought it over Wadesboro, North Carolina.

1918: In June 1918, a total solar eclipse was visible from Washington to Florida, according to the parks service. It was the last time a total solar eclipse would be visible across the entire continent for nearly 100 years. 

1925: This was followed by another total solar eclipse in January 1925, which was visible from Minnesota through New England, according to NASA . 

1932: In August 1932, another total solar eclipse was visible in North America. The path of totality for this eclipse was mostly in Canada, according to NASA , but was visible in northern New England including parts of Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. 

1963: The next total solar eclipse in the U.S. wasn't until July 1963. This eclipse was visible in Alaska and parts of northern New England, according to NASA . 

1970: In March 1970, another total solar eclipse was visible from the coast of the Southwest United States. Watch CBS News coverage of that event in the video below:

1979: The last eclipse that NASA recorded in the 20th century took place in 1979. This eclipse was visible in the Pacific Northwest and parts of Idaho and the Dakotas, but the path of totality mostly arced through Canada. 

Total solar eclipses in the U.S. during the 21st century so far

Only two total solar eclipses have been visible from the United States during the 21st century. The first was the total solar eclipse of 2017 , which was visible across the country . This was the first time such an event had occurred since 1918, and millions gathered to watch . 

The April 8, 2024, eclipse was the next total solar eclipse visible in the U.S. The path of totality for this eclipse stretched from Texas to the Northeast. The eclipse started  on Mexico's Pacific coast at just after 11 a.m. PDT before traveling across the U.S. and into Canada. The eclipse left North America around 5:19 p.m. EDT. 

The eclipse attracted millions of spectators. Some areas where the event was most visible declared local states of emergency to account for the number of expected visitors. 

When will the next total solar eclipse be visible in the U.S.?

After the April 8 eclipse, the U.S. won't see another total solar eclipse for decades. The next total solar eclipse visible from the United States will occur in August 2044. 

Total solar eclipses typically happen every one to three years somewhere around the globe, but the events are often only visible from Earth's poles or from the middle of the ocean. 

Kerry Breen is a reporter and news editor at CBSNews.com. A graduate of New York University's Arthur L. Carter School of Journalism, she previously worked at NBC News' TODAY Digital. She covers current events, breaking news and issues including substance use.

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What we know about the seven workers from World Central Kitchen who were killed in Israeli air strikes in Gaza

The seven aid workers killed in Israeli air strikes on Monday have been described as the "very best of humanity", as their loss is felt around the world and sends another chill through humanitarian aid groups in Gaza. 

The founder of World Central Kitchen (WCK), José Andrés, said his colleagues had finished delivering 100 tons of food in central Gaza when their three-car convoy was "systematically" targeted .

"The team was coming from dropping in a warehouse … all the food they were able to download before it got too dark," he said.

"Somehow, we kind of lost communication.

"Then we began to get information that something went wrong, that something happened. And that is when we found out our team was targeted."

According to Israel's initial investigation, it was a "grave mistake" that followed "misidentification" in "very complex conditions" .

Killed in the air strikes was an Australian team leader, two American-Canadian and Polish relief workers, three British security personnel, and a Palestinian interpreter.

"[They] were the best of humanity," Mr Andrés wrote in the New York Times , before calling for an independent investigation into their deaths.

"They are not faceless or nameless. They are not generic aid workers or collateral damage in war."

Here's what we know about them.

'The best of humanity'

In a statement, WCK's chief executive officer Erin Gore described the seven aid workers as "beautiful souls".

Some had travelled the world, participating in aid efforts in the aftermath of wars, earthquakes and wildfires. 

"Their smiles, laughter, and voices are forever embedded in our memories," Ms Gore said.

"And we have countless memories of them giving their best selves to the world. We are reeling from our loss. The world's loss."

The food they had successfully delivered in central Gaza had come from a barge that had sailed from Cyprus after a new maritime aid corridor had opened.

The United Nations and other agencies have repeatedly warned famine in Gaza is imminent and have complained of obstacles to getting aid distributed throughout the war-torn enclave.

"Their work was based on the simple belief that food is a universal human right," Mr Andrés said.

"It is not condition on being good or bad, rich or poor, left or right. We do not ask what religion you belong to. We just ask how many meals you need."

Lalzawmi 'Zomi' Frankcom (Australian)

Known to her friends as "Zomi", the 43-year-old Australian joined WCK as the team leader in Gaza after an earlier career at the Commonwealth Bank.

Social media posts show her in Pakistan and Bangladesh during floods in 2022 and on a motorbike convoy delivering aid into the Haitian highlands a year earlier.

"For her it was the perfect job, she got to serve hot meals to people who were having maybe the lowest point of their lives," her friend Bryan Weaver said.

"She made you feel like you were the only person in the room."

Another friend, Dora Weekley, said Frankcom was "larger than life" .

"[She] was just really dedicated and really driven, worked all hours and would put everything into it," she said.

"She was on the frontlines really of helping everyone in need."

In a statement, Frankcom's family described her as a "kind, selfless and outstanding" human, who would "leave behind a legacy of compassion, bravery and love for all those in her orbit".

Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he conveyed to his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu "in very clear terms" that Australians were outraged by the tragedy.

"These people are heroes," he said.

"When I spoke with the [Israeli] prime minister, I emphasised the importance of full accountability and transparency.

"I made clear again that humanitarian assistance must reach people in Gaza unimpeded and in large quantities."

Jacob Flickinger (American-Canadian)

The 33-year-old dual citizen of the United States and Canada served for more than 10 years in the Canadian Armed Forces and was deployed to Afghanistan, the military said in a statement.

"It is an extreme loss to tell you a couple of days ago I lost my son, but in a way I'm not surprised because he was so into these type of missions, this type of work," his mother, Sylvie Labrecque, said.

"There has been several times where I thought there was a strong possibility that his life was going to be short. He was kind of wild. He was very intense, but at the same time very smart."

She said her son leaves behind a 22-year-old girlfriend who is grieving at their home in Costa Rica.

According to a GoFundMe page raising money to help his family, Flickinger also had a one-year-old son.

In Acapulco, Mexico, restaurants posted on social media that Flickinger was among workers who brought relief to their neighbourhoods after Hurricane Otis slammed the Pacific coast in October.

Damian Soból (Polish)

The 35-year-old Polish national was known as a cheerful, friendly and resourceful manager who quickly rose in WCK's ranks. 

Hailing from the south-eastern city of Przemyśl and studying hospitality there, Soból had been on aid missions in Ukraine, Morocco, Turkey and, for the past six months, Gaza.

"He was a really extraordinary guy," said Marta Wilczynska, from the Free Place Foundation, which cooperates with World Central Kitchen.

"We were very proud of him."

Ms Wilczynska met Soból on the Polish side of the border with Ukraine, a few days after Russia's February 2022 invasion.

"Always smiling, always so helpful, he loved this job. I felt I had a brother in him," she said.

Free Place Foundation president Mikolaj Rykowski said Soból was "the man for every task — he could overcome every difficulty".

Przemyśl Mayor Wojciech Bakun said there were "no words to describe the feelings of people who knew this amazing young man".

James Kirby, John Chapman, James Henderson (British)

The three British nationals were all part of WCK's security team, according to the charity.

British media reported they were all former soldiers in the British military, and worked as private security contractors for UK-based firm Solace Global.

The 47-year-old Kirby served tours in Bosnia and Afghanistan, according to a statement released by his family via the BBC, which said they were "utterly heartbroken" and that Kirby would be remembered as a hero.

"Despite the risks, his compassionate nature drove him to offer assistance to those in dire need," the statement said.

"James lost his life trying to save others, he will never know what a void he has left, our family will never be the same."

Former special forces commando Chapman, a 57-year-old married father-of-two, had only been in Gaza for a few weeks before he was killed, according to the Sun newspaper.

Chapman's family said they were "devastated" to have lost him and that he would be missed dearly.

"He died trying to help people and was subject to an inhumane act," the family said in a statement released by Britain's Foreign Office.

"He was an incredible father, husband, son and brother."

Henderson, aged 33, served for six years in the Royal Marines, an elite fighting force of the British navy, according to his LinkedIn page.

Solace Global did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha (Palestinian)

The 25-year-old Palestinian had worked for WCK as a driver and translator since the start of the year, his relatives said.

Saifeddin's brother, Abdul Razzaq Abutaha, described him as a dedicated young man who was eager to help fellow Palestinians and distribute much-needed food in Gaza.

He had also been a successful businessman who conducted trade with overseas countries.

His work made him known on the Israeli side, his brother added, which helped with coordination and approvals to assist the WCK team in unloading the ship that had delivered the latest aid.

"My mother was looking for a wife for him. He was supposed to get married if the war didn't happen," Mr Abutaha said.

The last time Saifeddin and his brother spoke, the WCK team had finished the job and was heading home.

After hearing about the air strikes, Mr Abutaha said he tried to call Saifeddin.

After many attempts, he said, a stranger answered and told him, "I found this phone about 200 meters away from the car. All of the people inside are killed."

Saffeiden was buried in a ceremony attended by hundreds in his hometown of Rafah on Tuesday, the BBC reports.

WCK deaths 'not an isolated incident'

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said the killing of the seven aid workers from WCK was "not an isolated incident".

As of March 20, at least 196 humanitarians, including at least 175 UN workers, had been killed since the start of the war on October 7, the OHCHR reports.

"This is nearly three times the death toll recorded in any single conflict in a full year," said Nada Al-Nashif, the deputy high commissioner of OHCHR.

"As a result of attacks on hospitals and medical personnel and the sustained interference with humanitarian assistance, Palestinians in Gaza are dying of disease and hunger, if they are not killed by bombs."

Less than a week ago, three UN workers and an interpreter, including an Australian, were injured in an air strike while patrolling Lebanon's southern border with Israel.

"Most civil society organisations in Gaza have lost their physical infrastructure, with their staff either dead, injured, or detained, while others have fled seeking security," Mr Al-Nashif said.

"These are huge blows to civil society. Even more, funding to many of these organisations has been either frozen or is under review by donors."

The United Nations said the deaths of aid workers had a "chilling effect" on humanitarian groups, with agencies like WCK and American Near East Refugee Aid (Anera) pausing their operations in Gaza.

"It has a real impact on people who depend on these organisations to receive aid," UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said.

"But it also has a psychological and chilling effect on humanitarian workers, both Palestinians and international, who continue to do their utmost to deliver aid to those who need it at great personal risk." 

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