Deputy PM reveals key detail in suspected poisoning of four Aussie tourists at Fijis Warwick Resort

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 attenti...