- 6 tourists were hospitalized after drinking piña coladas at a resort in Fiji.
- The patients were four Australians, an American, and two others, per Fiji’s health ministry.
- Officials said the Fiji case was isolated, though it resembles a recent spate of tourist deaths in Laos.
A group of tourists was taken to the hospital after drinking cocktails at a five-star resort in Fiji.
Fiji’s health ministry said there were seven tourists aged 18 to 56: four Australians, one American, and two of unspecified nationality.
They were taken to Sigatoka Hospital after suffering nausea, vomiting, and “neurological symptoms” after drinking piña coladas at the Warwick Fiji Hotel, per The Fiji Times.
In a Facebook post on Monday, Fiji officials said the patients were transferred to Lautoka Hospital for additional medical attention.
Six were admitted for treatment there, an official said. It was unclear what happened to the seventh.
Viliame Gavoka, Fiji’s deputy prime minister, said that as of Monday evening, four had been discharged, while two were in stable condition in the ICU.
The incident comes after six tourists died in Laos in a similar case. Media reports said Laotian authorities suspect they drank bootleg liquor that contained methanol.
Brent Hill, CEO of Fiji’s national tourist office, told Radio New Zealand on Monday that the country’s authorities took the case “very seriously” but that what happened was “a long way” from the Laos case.
He said they did not suspect anything “malicious”, and were awaiting toxicology results.
Asked whether methanol was to blame, Jemesa Tudravu, permanent secretary for Fiji’s health ministry, said authorities don’t yet know, per local media.
David Sandoe, an Australian whose daughter and granddaughter were among those treated, told Australia’s ABC on Monday his relatives were discharged from the hospital and were scheduled to fly home Monday night.
He said they are doing “very well considering what they’ve been through.”
Viliame Gavoka, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation, described the case as a “very isolated” incident with no parallel he could recall.
The Warwick Fiji Hotel told the BBC it was “conducting a thorough investigation” to “gather all necessary information” while waiting for test results.
Methanol, a flavorless, colorless alcohol common in cleaning products, adhesives, and paints, can cause drowsiness, a reduced level of consciousness, confusion, headache, dizziness, and the inability to coordinate muscle movement.
It can also cause nausea, vomiting, and heart and respiratory failure, which usually appear after 1 to 72 hours, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to Médecins Sans Frontières, Asia has the highest incidence of methanol poisoning in the world, with Indonesia topping the list.
Fiji’s authorities and the Warwick Fiji Hotel didn’t immediately respond to requests for comments made outside working hours.
