An Australian woman has been medically evacuated out of Fiji after drinking a cocktail at a luxurious five-star hotel and falling ill, as a toxicology report confirms the cocktails were not spiked.
The woman was taken to Nadi Airport on a stretcher while supported by medical staff, where she boarded a medevac flight to Australia.
She is expected to land overnight.
Meanwhile, Tourism Fiji has said there were no illicit substances found in the cocktails drunk by seven people who all fell ill.
“No illicit substances nor methanol were found in the liquor samples, nor the gradients of the pina colada served on the Coral Coast on Saturday night,” Fiji’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Tourism Viliame Gavoka said.
The seven people experienced nausea, vomiting, and neurological symptoms after consuming a cocktail, believed to be a pina colada, at the Warwick Resort.
The reactions sparked fears that the drinks had been poisoned with drugs or methanol.
All seven patients have now been discharged.
While it’s still a mystery what caused the patients to fall ill, Gavoka apologised that people’s holidays had been ruined.
Fijian authorities and police say they will continue an investigation into what caused the sickness.
Yesterday, tourism authorities suggested the illness could be credited to food poisoning.
“We’ve never had anything like this in our history here in Fiji … we’re trying to get to the bottom of it,” Tourism Fiji chief executive Brent Hill said.
“It could actually be even food poisoning or something similar to that.”
