Two of four Australians who were hospitalised after a suspected mass alcohol poisoning in Fiji have returned home as investigations focus on “many” pina coladas served at a luxury resort.
The deputy prime minister and minister for tourism, Viliame Gavoka, has sought to reassure visitors that Fiji is safe after four Australians fell ill while staying at Warwick Fiji, saying he was “disturbed and quite surprised that this has happened”.
Gavoka said Monday that many pina coladas had been served at the five-star hotel on the Coral Coast, about halfway between Nadi and Suva, but others had not experienced ill effects.
Only two of the initial seven people who fell sick remain in hospital. Both are in a stable condition and undergoing treatment. Of the seven, one person was discharged from Sigatoka hospital while the other six were transferred to Lautoka hospital.
The father and grandfather of two of the Australians, David Sandoe, told Sky News his daughter Tanya and her daughter Georgia had been discharged from hospital and received confirmation they were medically fit to travel. The pair returned to Australia on Monday evening.
“Like everyone else when this news broke, we all thought back to what recently happened in Asia which sends shivers down your spine, so we’re so grateful and very fortunate,” he said.
It was a horrific experience, he said, describing a late-night call from his daughter telling him she had been taken to hospital as “quite something else”.
Georgia, in her late teens, suffered a seizure after drinking a cocktail, he said.
She had a pre-existing condition that affected her immune system, Sandoe said.
Gavoka said authorities do not believe the incident was a result of deliberate action.
The victims had been drinking pina coladas at one of the resort’s five bars, he said.
“In the same bar, there were many pina coladas served that evening. And with this resort, there are five bars altogether … so in the other four bars, pina colada was also served. No ill effects.”
At a press conference on Monday afternoon, Gavoka said toxicology results would help officials “understand what really happened”.
“We don’t think anything untoward happened.”
Gavoka said the bartender serving the drinks had 16 years of experience and is “someone who is known for their caring attitude”.
He described the tourism industry in Fiji as “a very caring one” and said “we have no fear that anyone would be doing anything untoward.
“That would be really in the extreme … we don’t believe it’s possible in Fiji.”
The Warwick Fiji is “very highly rated” with high standards, he said.
Gavoka told ABC’s 730 program on Monday night he could not say the origin of the drinks at this stage of the investigation.
He said nearly one million tourists visit Fiji every year, and the country is determined to find out what happened.
“I was a hotelier myself for many years, and I am quite disturbed and quite surprised that this has happened. So we really need to get down to bottom of this,” he said. “But I assure you that Fiji is safe and the whole country is determined to discover and to discover what is this, and take steps in order to avoid any future cases.”
The government is working with the resort and police to investigate the matter.
A spokesperson for the resort confirmed the victims were staying at the Warwick, but stressed that it did “not have conclusive details” yet.
“Please rest assured that we are taking this matter very seriously and are currently conducting a thorough investigation,” the spokesperson said.
“We do not have conclusive details but we are committed to ensuring the safety and wellbeing of our guests.”
Gavoka said the incident was localised to one bar at one resort that was being thoroughly investigated and it was the only reported case in recent memory.
“While we understand the concern, we want to emphasise that the tourism experience in Fiji is typically very safe and we have acted immediately to try and discover the cause of what made these guests at this resort fall ill.”
Australia has revised its travel advice for Fiji, warning travellers to “be alert to the potential risks around drink spiking and methanol poisoning through consuming alcoholic drinks”.
It comes after two Australians died in Laos from a suspected methanol poisoning.
• This article was amended on 19 December 2024. Two Australians died in Laos from suspected methanol, not ethanol, poisoning.
With Australian Associated Press
