Tourists stranded on luxury resort after fire that killed reality TV star

Nearly 2000 tourists have been left stranded after a huge fire at a holiday resort in the Dominican Republic.

On Friday 19 June, a blaze quickly spread through the Viva Dominicus Beach by Wyndham in Bayahibe, where guests can pay as much as $350 a night to stay.

However, all of those guests have now been evacuated in an emergency, while Italian reality TV star Francesca Valentino also tragically lost her life in the fire.

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, which franchises about 8,400 hotels around the world, said in a short statement to the BBC that while 'hotel teams safely evacuated guests and staff,' one guest died.

"We send our thoughts to the family while we await autopsy results to determine the cause," it said.

Although many have been moved to different resorts or hotels in the aftermath of the fire, they now face being stranded in the Caribbean after passports and other forms of ID presumably perished in the fire.

Amanda Santana, a hotel executive told the Daily Mail: "Unfortunately, they lost their identity documents, including their passports.

"We have been coordinating with the embassies and governments of those countries to facilitate the entry of those guests."

While it's unclear at this point how many British and American guests were among the near 1700 people to be affected by the fire, the resort's popularity among Westerners certainly suggests that a fair few could find themselves stuck in the Caribbean after likely losing their documentation.

Hotel officials have confirmed that they are now working with police to assist tourists who might need replacement passports or documents to help ensure that they get back home safely.

"Preliminary observations indicate that the fire spread rapidly due to the flammable nature ​of parts of the roof structures made of palm, as ​well as wind conditions," the Dominican Republic's Emergency Operations Center (COE) said.

The COE added that 'tourist activities ​in Bayahibe and the surrounding area remain unaffected ​and ⁠continue to take place safely and as normal.'

Online videos and footage has captured the significant extent of the fire, with huge billows of smoke almost completely covering the resort.

One witness said on social media that firefighters were struggling to extinguish the fires.

'Although fire trucks are already on the scene, the magnitude of the blaze exceeds the available equipment and greater support is required with higher-impact units to fully extinguish it,' they wrote.

While the fire was eventually able to be brought under control, the death of Valentino, injuries of many more and of course the destroyed documents mean that this was truly a traumatic experience for anyone staying at the resort late last week.

Considering all the travel issues in the world right now, losing a passport and being stranded abroad is yet another struggle for anyone who was unfortunate enough to be there.