{"id":129495,"date":"2021-06-21T03:43:57","date_gmt":"2021-06-21T03:43:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/?p=129495"},"modified":"2021-06-21T03:43:57","modified_gmt":"2021-06-21T03:43:57","slug":"auckland-cbd-overdose-skycity-investigating-after-three-people-collapse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/world-news\/auckland-cbd-overdose-skycity-investigating-after-three-people-collapse\/","title":{"rendered":"Auckland CBD overdose: SkyCity investigating after three people collapse"},"content":{"rendered":"
SkyCity is investigating an incident in which three people suffered a suspected overdose outside its central Auckland hotel and Casino today.<\/p>\n
The three victims were rushed to hospital after emergency services were alerted to their plight about 8.30am.<\/p>\n
In a statement, SkyCity Entertainment Group said it was investigating the incident which occurred nearits plaza in Auckland’s CBD.<\/p>\n
“A member of SkyCity staff observed three people unwell and the matter was reported to ambulance and police.<\/p>\n
“The three people were transported to hospital by ambulance.<\/p>\n
“The matter is now in the hands of police.”<\/p>\n
Police and multiple ambulances responded to the incident around 8.30am.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A police officer said three people – two females and one male – had been transported to hospital after ingesting or inhaling some sort of substance.<\/p>\n
“We think they’ve ingested or smoked something and obviously OD’ed on something and they’ve gone to hospital to hopefully come round.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“My guess is it would be some sort of synthetic cannabinoid.”<\/p>\n
The patients had been found directly outside SkyCity’s main entrance. They would now undergo toxicology tests at hospital to confirm what substance they had taken.<\/p>\n
Kai Laidler, a staff member at United Coffee Nation on Federal St, said a woman buying her morning coffee “just ditched it” about 9am after seeing someone being dragged outside the shop.<\/p>\n
“She went outside and people were helping someone and then four ambulances came and cops came. Another customer came in 20 minutes later and said they’d had a seizure.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A man sitting near SkyCity asking for spare change said he understood the trio had been smoking synthetic drugs.<\/p>\n
“They just passed out. It wasn’t good. They were incoherent, put it that way.”<\/p>\n
The man said security guards erected screens around the three people while they waited for ambulances to arrive.<\/p>\n
The man told the Herald he had lost his own brother to synthetics in 2018.<\/p>\n
“So that was the last thing I wanted to see in front of me. It’s not good.”<\/p>\n