7 hospitalized in Fiji after drinking pina coladas at upscale lounge – National
Seven Fijian immigrants were hospitalized after drinking pina coladas at a bar and falling ill over the weekend, authorities said Monday.
Cocktails were served at a five-star resort in Warwick on Saturday, according to local news reports. It is not clear whether these drinks mixed with rum were consumed with contaminated alcohol and the cause of these diseases is still unknown.
Fiji's tourism minister, Viliame R. Gavoka, told the media that those hospitalized include four Australians and one American. The other two are immigrants living in Fiji. Although five have been released, two are still in hospital, healthy and in a satisfactory condition.
Jemesa Tudrave, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health in Fiji, said that those affected were hospitalized with vomiting, nausea and neurological symptoms.
This incident took place weeks after the death of six tourists in the country of Laos in South East Asia due to alleged methanol poisoning.
Brent Hill, Fiji's tourism chief, told RNZ that while they were aware of the Laos case, the situation in Fiji was “far from that.”
Gavoka said the results of toxicology tests are pending and should be ready in three to four days, but stressed that there have been no other reports of similar illnesses at the resort or in the rest of the island nation.
“The managers of the resorts have assured us that they have never done practices such as changing the ingredients or changing the quality of the drinks offered to guests,” Gavoka said in a statement.
“This is the only reported case of its kind that we have experienced in recent memory, and certainly nothing like this has happened this year,” he continued.
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The Warwick Fiji Hotel said in a statement sent to the BBC that it was aware of “alleged alcohol poisoning” and was taking it seriously. The hotel said it was “conducting a thorough investigation” while waiting for the “test results report” from health authorities to “collect all the necessary information.”
Sydney resident David Sandoe told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation he had received a call saying his daughter and grandson were among those hospitalized. He confirmed to this newspaper that they both drank a pina colada before falling ill.
“There was a group of them in the lounge at this resort and they were having the same cocktail and unfortunately, seven people came down with the symptoms that were mentioned,” Sandoe said.
– With files from the Associated Press
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