Tourists taken to hospital after drinking cocktails at Fiji resort

Evening Standard

Seven foreign tourists were hospitalized in Fiji with nausea, vomiting and neurological symptoms after drinking cocktails at the bar of a resort, health and tourism authorities said Monday.Talking to local media in Canberra on Monday, Australia's Treasurer Jim Chalmers said it was a "very concerning" incident.The group included four Australians and an American, according to local news reports. They were drinking together at the five-star Warwick Resort near the town of Sigatoka before they became ill.Health officials said they did not yet know the cause of the illness and it was too soon to know if drink poisoning was involved.A relative of two of the Australians told Sky News Australia the women were discharged from hospital on Monday.

Transcript

00:00Hello Shane. The last thing I wanted to say was about the situation in Fiji. This is very

00:08concerning news out of Fiji with four Australians hospitalised over the weekend. We are thinking

00:14of the friends and family of the people who are affected. This is no doubt a very distressing

00:20time for them. DFAT officials are in contact with those affected Australians and they're

00:26providing consular assistance. I want to do a thank and acknowledge the very fine people

00:32of DFAT for the effort that goes in in situations like this. Fiji police are investigating to

00:38determine the cause of the illnesses and we'll try and keep people updated as that investigation

00:44continues. DFAT's updated its travel advice for Fiji with some extra information and Australians

00:52who are travelling this summer should always check Smart Traveller to make sure that they've

00:56got the most up-to-date information. Beyond that, people who are affected by this are

01:01entitled to their privacy, so we won't say more about their particular situation until

01:07or unless it's okay with them. More broadly, obviously, if Australians are travelling,

01:13be very alert to the potential risks, in this case around drink spiking and alcohol poisoning.

01:20Don't leave your drinks unattended. Pay attention when your drinks are being mixed and get urgent

01:24medical help if you suspect that something is wrong.

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