On Wednesday night, six Brazilian tourists died in Central Santiago allegedly due to carbon monoxide poisoning in a flat they rented on Airbnb.
In a statement issued Thursday, the company said to be sorry, but it also led to believe that it should not be blamed for their deaths.
According to the firm, their clients’ and hosts’ safety is their priority, but guests need to make sure that the units they rent have fire and carbon monoxide detectors, which was not the case in this incident.
“If a guest books a space where the host has not reported having fire and carbon monoxide detectors, the platform will point this out to the guests so that they can make all the necessary arrangements”, they said.
Nevertheless, Airbnb announced that it will pay for their families’ trips, forth and back, as well as for the repatriation of the bodies, per UOL and Extra Globo.
According to O Globo, the victims travelled to celebrate a girl’s fifteenth birthday. The trip had been planned a year ago.
The Fire Department believes their deaths could have been caused by a problem with the heating system or the stove. Detectives are investigating this case.