Several tourists were hospitalized in Fiji after drinking pina coladas at a resort.
The fateful drinks were served over the weekend at the Warwick Fiji resort near the town of Sigatoka, located on the nation’s largest island, Viti Levu.
The tourists were hospitalized due to unspecified neurological symptoms, vomiting and nausea, Fiji Health Ministry spokesperson Jemesa Tudravu told the Associated Press. As of Monday, only two of the tourists remained hospitalized, conscious and in stable condition, Fijian Tourism Minister Viliame Gavoka said.
In addition to the American, there were also four Australian nationals among the seven tourists affected according to Reuters news agency. Although all seven tourists had drank pina coladas at the Warwick bar, they were not the only people to do so.
“Pina colada is the drink here. A lot of people drank pina colada, but it only affected these six or seven people. I think there’s something else we need to identify … The resort here is a very highly rated resort, very high standards and we don’t think anything untoward happened,” Mr. Gavoka said, according to the Australian news site News.com.au.
In a statement posted on Facebook Tuesday, Warwick Fiji, which has done business in the Pacific island nation for 40 years, wrote that they “take the safety of our guests very seriously. We are currently working jointly with the authorities to determine what caused this unfortunate incident.”
The resort said it will “remain committed to the health and safety of our guests, and we are with our guests every step of the way as we investigate this unfortunate incident.”
None of the names of the affected tourists have yet been released.
