At the end of November, countries such as the U.S., Canada and Denmark issued travel advisories for the Southeast Asian nation Laos after a number of their citizens died from consuming alcohol tainted with methanol in the resort town of Vang Vieng.
Methanol is a single-carbon simple alcohol that is used primarily for automotive and other industrial purposes but sometimes gets added into drinks served at bars by unscrupulous owners looking to bring down cost.
The victims included 19-year-old Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles, Australian teenagers and best friends who were on a tour of the region that they dreamed about and saved for after finishing high school.
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Bars at resort destinations occasionally see incidents of tainted alcohol poisoning.
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What went wrong: Seven tourists hospitalized with symptoms of nausea and vomiting
Another holiday destination particularly popular with Australians due to proximity to the country, the island nation of Fiji also sees large numbers of resort visitors and young tourists looking to spend a few days partying on a beach.
This week, local authorities reported that seven international visitors were hospitalized after consuming cocktails at the five-star Warwick resort in the town of Sigatoka. New Zealand news chain RNZ reported that some of the victims, which include 56-, 49- and 19-year-old Australian women, were taken to the nearest Sigatoka Hospital with symptoms such as “nausea, vomiting and neurological symptoms.”
Two out of the seven were later taken by helicopter to Lautoka Hospital in the larger city of Nadi due to having more severe symptoms. Authorities have not yet announced whether or what type of tainted alcohol caused the symptoms.
“It’s very difficult to take a call at 11 o’clock at night, and your daughter and granddaughter are away, and your daughter says that they’ve been poisoned and are in hospital,” David Sandoe, whose daughter Tanya and granddaughter Georgia were among the seven tourists poisoned, described to Australian news outlets. “It’s your worst nightmare, really.”
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Fiji Tourism Minister: ‘The resort management has assured us’
Five tourists were discharged by Dec. 16 while two others remain in hospital. The hospitals that treated them are still waiting for the results of the toxicology reports on what caused the illness but some of the discharged guests reported drinking the same piña coladas served to a number of guests at the Warwick bar.
The five-star resort is built as a complex with multiple bars in different areas. It is also very highly reviewed — a sign that, as some of the victims and their family said to local outlets, should push some to remain vigilant about what they consume everywhere rather than a specific type of bar that may appear “seedy.”
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“The resort management has assured us that they have not engaged in practices such as substituting ingredients or altering the quality of drinks served to guests,” Fiji Tourism Minister Viliame R. Gavoka said at a press conference on the incident.
In a similar type of warning that it sends out whenever incidents of alcohol poisoning occur in areas commonly frequented by tourists, the U.S. State Department advises travelers to “avoid spiked drinks, not leave your drink unattended or accept open containers from strangers.”
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