Several Australian tourists are in a critical condition after a suspected mass alcohol poisoning in Fiji.
Authorities said seven guests of the Warwick Resort on Fiji’s Coral Coast allegedly fell ill after drinking a cocktail at the venue’s bar on Saturday night.
The group were rushed to nearby Sigatoka Hospital with ‘nausea, vomiting and neurological symptoms’, local outlet Fiji Village reported.
Two were later taken to Lautoka Hospital due to the severity of their conditions.
It’s understood four of the seven guests are Australian with the tourists aged between 18 and 56 years old.
Police and health inspectors are investigating the cause of the illness.
A Warwick guest, who requested to stay anonymous, told Daily Mail Australia his friend allegedly suffered seizures just hours after drinking at the resort bar.
He and three friends had travelled from Suva, Fiji’s capital, for a weekend getaway.
Seven guests of Fiji’s Warwick Resort (pictured) have been hospitalised following a suspected mass alcohol poisoning
About midday on Saturday, the group ordered five cocktails.
‘The people who drank the piña colada became unwell,’ the guest said.
‘My friend was the worst of the lot. At 5pm we went to check on her and help her get ready for dinner.
‘She wasn’t responsive. She was having severe seizures and foaming at the mouth.’
The guest believes up to 12 hotel guests were hospitalised, including at least six foreigners.
‘All the victims were ladies. I could identify them as Warwick guests because they all had the resort armbands on,’ he said.
‘There was a young girl, possibly aged between eight and 12, who’d had a sip of her mum’s cocktail.
‘They’re both in a terrible state.’
A guest and his friends allegedly ordered cocktails (pictured) from the resort’s bar shortly before one suffered seizures
Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Warwick Resort for comment.
The news comes just weeks after six backpackers, including two Australians, were killed in a mass methanol poisoning.
Melbourne teenagers Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles, both aged 19, were among six foreign tourists who died after falling ill while holidaying in Vang Vieng, a popular tourist town 129km north of Vientiane.
They had all been staying at Nana Backpackers Hostel, where eight staff members have now been arrested by police.
The best friends were evacuated to separate hospitals in Thailand on November 13.
Ms Jones died surrounded by loved ones in Udon Thani hospital before Ms Bowles died in nearby Bangkok Hospital.
British lawyer Simone White, 28, two Danish women Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20, and Frela Vennervald Sorensen, 21, US man James Louis Hutson, 57, also died from after drinking contaminated drinks.
More to come.
