Cancun, Q.R. — A family of Chilean tourists who had their passports held as ransom for payment have had them returned. The passports were returned after two women filed an official complaint against an ambulance company in Cancun.
Last week, the two women were vacationing in Playa Mujeres with their father when he suffered an accident in the hotel’s bathroom. The daughters called for an ambulance who arrived and transferred their father to a Cancun hospital.
However, the paramedics from the ambulance company demanded a payment of $850 USD for the hospital transfer and confiscated their passports to ensure payment. The women were given until noon that day to pay.
The two daughters who had their passports confiscated by the paramedics filed a complaint with the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE). The FGE has since reported that the passports were returned to the family who have since returned to Chile.
In their statement, the FGE said their “passports were withheld by a private ambulance service company to force them to pay for the transfer of a patient to the hospital.”
The FGE said they intervened so that the ambulance company returned their passports without payment so that the tourists could travel back to their country.
