An American is among 7 tourists hospitalized after drinking cocktails at a 5-star Fiji resort

Seven foreign tourists, including an American, were taken to hospital in Fiji after drinking cocktails at a resort bar, Fijian authorities said on Monday, just weeks after… Six tourists died On suspicion of alcohol poisoning in a separate incident in Laos.

Fiji’s Ministry of Health said all seven were taken to hospital on Saturday evening suffering from “nausea, vomiting and neurological symptoms.”

Officials said they became ill after drinking a pina colada cocktail prepared at a bar at the five-star Warwick Fiji resort on the Coral Coast, about 45 miles west of the capital, Suva.

A Ministry of Health spokesman said that the seven guests, aged between 18 and 56, included four Australians, one American, and two others whose nationalities were not revealed.

Tourism Minister William Gavoca said one of the patients was discharged on Sunday from Sigatoka Hospital near the hotel.

He added that the other six were transferred to the larger Lautoka Hospital on the island’s west coast, where two of them were released earlier on Monday and the other two were scheduled to be released later in the day.

He added in a press conference that the remaining two patients at Lautoka Hospital were in “stable condition” in intensive care.

David Sandhu, an Australian man who said his daughter and granddaughter were taken to hospital, told Sky News Australia that his relatives had been released from hospital and were scheduled to return home on Monday evening.

Javoka said the Fiji Ministry of Health and Police Force were investigating the cause, adding that “critical” toxicology test results usually take three or four days.

He added: “Everyone is in a state of disbelief at what happened.”

Asked if the illness might be linked to methanol poisoning, Javoca said this was “something we don’t think is possible in Fiji”.

While he declined to speculate on the cause, he said it was a “very isolated incident.”

He added that tourism in Fiji, which attracts nearly a million people a year, is “usually very safe.”

The minister said he did not believe this was the result of any deliberate action.

He added that the hotel bar in question was “very busy” in the evening, but only seven people became ill from the pina colada, which was normally “pretty harmless”.

A spokesman for the Warwick Fiji Hotel said it was investigating and awaiting test results from health authorities.

“At this moment, we do not have conclusive details, but we are committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of our guests,” the spokesperson said.

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs said it was providing consular assistance to two families but declined to comment further due to “privacy obligations.”

In a separate incident in Laos last month, two Danish citizens, an American, a Briton and two Australians were killed He died of suspected methanol poisoning After what local media said was a night in the town of Vang Vieng. Among the victims British Simon White28 years old, two young Australian men, Holly Bowles and her best friend Bianca Jones, And two young Danish womenAnne-Sophie Urkild Kooyman and Freya Wennervald Sørensen, BBC I mentioned. Only one of the victims, 57-year-old American citizen James Lewis Hutson, was male.

Police detained The 34-year-old Nana Backpacker hostel manager and seven other staff were taken for questioning.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.