Travel warning issued as seven tourists fall ill with pina colada poisoning in Fiji
At least seven people have been taken to hospital in Fiji after drinking pina coladas at a popular resort bar over the weekend.
Four Australian women, two Americans and one Fijian, aged 18 to 56, were hospitalised for suspected alcohol poisoning on Saturday night.
One of the Australians, 56, was under constant hospital surveillance while another, 19, had experienced “serious medical episodes”. The other two, aged 49 and 18, were in critical but less severe condition.
Australia warned travellers to Fiji to look for the potential risks of “drink spiking and methanol poisoning” when consuming alcoholic beverages.
Fiji’s police and health ministry were conducting investigations and toxicology tests to determine the cause of the poisoning.
The victims reportedly drank cocktails at Warwick Fiji Resort on the Coral Coast and soon developed nausea, vomiting, and “neurological symptoms”.
The country’s government insisted that the episode was “extremely isolated”.
An incident of alcohol poisoning left six tourists dead in the Southeast Asian country of Laos last month.
“We don’t have the cause of the incident yet but our team is currently investigating,” Jemesa Tudravu from the health ministry was quoted as saying by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. He said police were conducting separate toxicology exams as part of their investigation.
Viliame Gavok, deputy prime minister, said all seven guests had been transferred to the Lautoka hospital for “medical care, investigation, and management”.
“We are glad to hear that they are stable and hope their conditions continue to improve,” the minister said in a statement. “This is an extremely isolated incident, affecting only these seven guests at a specific bar within the resort.”
“As we approach the festive season, we always advise everyone to exercise the usual caution about what they consume,” Mr Gavok said.
He said the resort claimed “they have not engaged in practices such as substituting ingredients or altering the quality of drinks served to guests”.
The Warwick Fiji Resort earlier said it was operational despite the hospitalisations. “We do not have anything to disclose because the resort is under investigation,” the resort’s reception said in a statement to the BBC.
The establishment said they were taking the matter “very seriously” and “conducting a thorough investigation”. They were waiting for the “test result report” from the health ministry to “gather all necessary information”.
