A mother and daughter are returning home to Sydney after an “ideal break” turned into a “worst nightmare” when they were hospitalised after a suspected alcohol poisoning at a holiday resort in Fiji.
David Sandoe, whose daughter Tanya and granddaughter Georgia Sandoe-Simpson, told the ABC the women were “very well considering what they’d been through” and were waiting in an airport lounge after being discharged from hospital following a one-week holiday that started last Monday.
Sandoe’s daughter and grandaughter were among four Australian women, aged 18 to 56, and three other tourists rushed to hospital with suspected alcohol poisoning after drinking ready-made cocktails on Saturday afternoon.
Sandoe said the other two Australians hospitalised were also a mother and daughter from NSW. He said the women had been “banded together with the camaraderie that happens with these sorts of incidents”. Warwick Fiji said the resort is undertaking a “thorough investigation”.
They are also awaiting the health authorities’ test result report to gather all necessary information.
A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson said it is providing consular assistance to two Australian families in Fiji.
The federal government’s Smartraveller website revised its advice to Australians travelling to Fiji to include a warning about the risks of drink spiking.
It says for people to be alert to the potential risks around drink spiking and methanol poisoning through consuming alcoholic drinks.
[source : stuff.co.nz/sydneymorningherald]
