Seven foreign tourists, including an American, were hospitalized in Fiji after drinking cocktails at a resort bar, Fijian authorities said Monday, just weeks after. six tourists died of suspected alcohol poisoning in a separate incident in Laos.
All seven were taken to hospital on Saturday night with “nausea, vomiting and neurological symptoms”, according to Fiji’s health ministry.
They fell ill after drinking pina colada cocktails prepared at a bar at the five-star Warwick Fiji resort on the Coral Coast, about 45 miles west of the capital Suva, officials said.
A health ministry spokesman said the seven guests, aged between 18 and 56, included four Australians, one American and two others whose nationalities were not given.
One of the patients had been discharged from Sigatoka Hospital near the hotel on Sunday, Tourism Minister Viliame Gavoka said.
The other six were taken to the largest hospital in Lautoka on the island’s west coast, he said, with two of them released earlier on Monday and another two set to leave later in the day.
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The two patients who remained at Lautoka Hospital were in a “stable condition” in intensive care, he told a news conference.
David Sandoe, an Australian man who said his daughter and granddaughter were in hospital, told Sky News Australia that their relatives had been released from hospital and were due to return home on Monday night .
Fiji’s health ministry and police were investigating the cause, Gavoka said, adding that the results of “critical” toxicology tests usually take three to four days.
“Everyone is in a state of disbelief that this has happened,” he said.
Asked if the illness could be linked to methanol poisoning, Gavoka said it was “something we don’t think is possible in Fiji”.
While he declined to speculate on the cause, he said it was a “very isolated incident.”
Tourism in Fiji, which attracts close to a million people each year, was “usually very safe”, he said.
The minister said he did not believe it was the result of any deliberate action.
The hotel bar involved was “very busy” in the evening, he added, but only seven people were sickened by the pina coladas, which were normally “pretty harmless”.
A spokesman for the Warwick Fiji Hotel said it was carrying out an investigation and awaiting test results from health authorities.
“At this time, we do not have conclusive details, but we are committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of our guests,” the spokesperson said.
Australia’s foreign affairs ministry said it was providing consular assistance to two families, but declined further comment citing “privacy obligations”.
In another incident in Laos last month, two Danish citizens, an American, a Briton and two Australians died of suspected methanol poisoning after what local media said was a night out in Vang Vieng town. Victims include British Simone Whiteof 28 years, two young Australians, Holly Bowles and her best friend Bianca Jones, and two young Danish womenAnne-Sofie Orkild Coyman and Freja Vennervald Sorensen, BBC informed. Only one of the victims, American citizen James Louis Hutson, 57, was a man.
Police arrested the 34-year-old manager of the Nana Backpacker Hostel and seven other employees for questioning.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.