Mass Perth backpacker overdose drug cocktail to be revealed this morning, WA Police say
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Police have begun to piece together the powerful mix of drugs that put nine Perth backpackers in hospital yesterday after a mass overdose that has left two in intensive care.
Sources have told the ABC that a masking agent used to bulk out a powder seized from the property had been identified, but a complete analysis of the drug was yet to be completed.
A white powder seized from a home is being analysed by the WA ChemCentre and authorities expect to find out this morning which drug or drugs were responsible for the violent reaction.
Emergency services were called to the property in Colombo Street in the inner-city suburb of Victoria Park just before midnight after reports nine people, all aged in their 20s, were unconscious or violently ill.
Seven men and two women were rushed to three separate hospitals around the city.
Neighbours spoke of being terrified as they watched people have seizures while they were being carried on stretchers out of the house.
Two French nationals remain in a critical condition in Royal Perth Hospital and a German woman is in a stable condition in an induced coma after snorting the drug.
RPH clinical toxicologist Jessamine Soderstrom yesterday said some patients would likely stay in induced comas for days as they recovered.
The other six people have been released from hospital.
The alarm was raised when another resident returned to the property late on Tuesday night to find the nine backpackers in unconscious or semi-conscious states.
Doctors who treated them say they overdoses could have proved fatal if medical treatment was delayed by another 40 minutes.
Topics: drugs-and-substance-abuse, drug-offences, police, perth-6000, victoria-park-6100
