Toxicology reports to determine what caused seven Fijian tourists to take ill on holiday could take at least “two to three days”, authorities claim.
The Fijian deputy prime minister revealed “a lot” of pina coladas were served to a busy resort bar on the same night, but only seven guests became ill.
They have already ruled out one theory that the group, including four Australians, were deliberately poisoned.
Immediate parallels were drawn with a recent incident in Laos, where six tourists died after drinking alcohol laced with deadly methanol.
But methanol is known to take a number of hours to impact those who drink it, while the holidaymakers in Fiji suffered immediate symptoms.
“I think there is something else we need to identify,” Fiji’s Deputy Prime Minister and Tourism Minister Viliame Gavoka said.
He said the bar at the five-star Warwick Resort on Fiji’s Coral Coast was “very full” on Saturday evening and the bartender had a good reputation with 16 years of experience.
“A lot of people drank pina coladas but it only affected these six or seven people,” Gavoka explained.
One person was discharged from hospital on Sunday, followed by four others on Monday and two remained in a stable condition.
Georgia Sandoe-Simpson, 19, who had experienced a seizure after consuming an allegedly contaminated cocktail, and her mother Tanya, 49, who was also hospitalised for two nights, landed home in Sydney on Monday night.
Gavoka said the toxicology report would be “key” to discovering whether the cocktails – made with rum, coconut cream and pineapple juice – were actually to blame, but that report could take three to four days.
“It’s a pretty harmless drink, that’s why we really want to understand what happened here, like, as I said in the same bar there were many pina coladas served on the evening,” he said, adding that four other bars in the resort also served pina coladas the same night without any issues.
The incident in Fiji has drawn attention from across the world following the deaths of at least six people in a suspected mass methanol poisoning at a hostel in the Southeast Asian country of Laos last month. Melbourne teens Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles, both 19, lost their lives in the tragedy.
Gavoka said they did not believe that methanol was to blame this time, but it could not be ruled out until the toxicology results were in.
“There is fear that it will be similar but that was not in an established operation,” he said, referring to the hostel all six backpackers were staying at in Laos before they died.
“The resort here is a very highly rated resort, very high standards and we don’t think anything untoward happened.”
Gavoka said people’s confidence in Fiji’s tourism and hospitality industry would return quickly “once the facts become known.”
Tourism Fiji CEO Brent Hill said authorities had gone through CCTV and spoken to the bartender but until the toxicology reports were released, they wouldn’t know what caused the tourists to fall ill.
He described the fact only seven guests were affected as “quite mystifying.”
“We have never had something like this occur before,” he told Sunrise on Tuesday morning.
“There’s been lots of different suggestions about what could have been in the drinks or consumed by the tourists. A lot of those things that have been talked about you can’t acquire here in Fiji.”
He urged tourists to not put off their trips to the country as it was a “very isolated incident” and to take usual precautions.
“Fiji is a place that tourism is literally almost half our economy,” he said.
Australian Travel Industry Association CEO Dean Long told news.com.au that Fiji was a “very, very safe destination” and Australians could be assured the Fijian government would “throw every resource at this,” given tourism was of such critical importance to the country.
Almost 406,000 Australians travelled to Fiji in the 12 months to October.
Long also urged people not to cancel any trips there as it would hurt the local Fijian population that want to welcome Aussie families over summer.
“If people are very nervous about it, they can change the way they consume alcohol,” he said, suggesting it is best to drink pre-mixed sealed drinks that you can open yourself.
Following the incident, the Australian government’s official travel advice website, Smartraveller, updated its advice for Fiji to include a warning about methanol poisoning.
“Be alert to the potential risks around drink spiking and methanol poisoning through consuming alcoholic drinks,” it said. “Get urgent medical help if you suspect drink spiking.”
Methanol is highly toxic and as little as one shot can be fatal. It is difficult to distinguish from ethanol, the alcohol found in beer, wine, and spirits, because it is colorless, odorless, and tasteless.
Drink spiking can happen anywhere but methanol poisoning is a risk in popular destinations in Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Eastern Europe, where alcohol production is less regulated, Smartraveller warns.
Among the official government advice to avoid drink spiking overseas is to not leave drinks unattended, pay attention when your drinks are being mixed, be especially careful drinking cocktails and drinks made with spirits, and drink only at reputable licensed premises.
Warwick Resort told the Fijian government that they had “not engaged in practices such as substituting ingredients or altering the quality of drinks served to guests.”
The resort’s sales and marketing manager, Savaira Molaucake, told news.com.au they were “taking this matter very seriously” and were “conducting a thorough investigation.”
