Forensic technicians and hotel employees stand near a scene where three Canadian citizens were injured by gunshots at Hotel Xcaret, in Playa del Carmen, Mexico January 21, 2022. REUTERS/Stringer

Two Canadians died of gunshot wounds after an argument turned violent at a resort near Cancun on Mexico's Caribbean coast, authorities said on Friday.

Iran PressAmerica: Quintana Roo state security chief Lucio Hernández said via Twitter that authorities were searching for a Hotel Xcaret guest in the shooting. He shared a photo of a man walking with a handgun.

The Xcaret resort is south of Playa del Carmen.

According to Reuters, Authorities said all three victims were taken to a hospital, but two died.

The Quintana Roo state prosecutor's office said via Twitter that the suspect in the shooting was also apparently a guest and Canadian police informed them he was a known felon with a long record related to robbery, drug and weapons offenses. The office said both of the dead also had criminal records.

It is just the latest brazen act of violence along Mexico's famed Mayan Riviera, the crown jewel of its tourism industry.

In November, a shootout on the beach of Puerto Morelos left two suspected drug dealers dead. Authorities said there were some 15 gunmen from a gang that apparently disputed control of drug sales there.

In late October, farther south in the laidback destination of Tulum, two tourists — one a California travel blogger born in India and the other German — were caught in the apparent crossfire of rival drug dealers and killed.

Following those events, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador sent nearly 1,500 members of the National Guard to reinforce security in the area.

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Forensic technicians and hotel employees stand near a scene where three Canadian citizens were injured by gunshots at Hotel Xcaret, in Playa del Carmen, Mexico January 21, 2022. REUTERS/Stringer
Vehicles pass by the exterior of Hotel Xcaret where three Canadian citizens were injured by gunshots, in Playa del Carmen, Mexico January 21, 2022. REUTERS/Paola Chiomante
Forensic technicians work at a scene where three Canadian citizens were injured by gunshots at Hotel Xcaret, in Playa del Carmen, Mexico January 21, 2022. REUTERS/Stringer