(CNN) The Dominican Republic's top tourism official on Friday downplayed as an exaggeration a spate of deaths among American tourists.

"It's not true that there has been an avalanche of American tourists dying in our country, and it's not true that we have mysterious deaths," Tourism Minister Francisco Javier Garcia told reporters.

Garcia said toxicology reports were still pending in some cases but that autopsy results and causes of death have been released. He said his country has been in constant communication with US Embassy officials. The FBI said Friday it has sent personnel to the country to provide technical assistance to Dominican investigators. The FBI described the number of people as a small team.

Garcia said the characterization in some media outlets of an "avalanche of deaths does not correspond to reality."

He read the names of the Americans who have died in the past year, with the official cause of death -- noting that all died of natural causes.

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