Drink Spiking Warning Renewed After Airlie Hospitalisation

Photo source: Shutterstock

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Fresh warnings have been raised about drink spiking in Airlie Beach after a Sunshine Coast visitor was rushed to hospital with a dangerously low heart rate.  

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Sam Hensen and his friend Erik had flown to Townsville to pick up a newly purchased LandCruiser and on their way home, stopped into town for a bit of fun.  

About 30 minutes into the night, Erik began feeling unwell and returned to their accommodation, where his condition rapidly deteriorated.

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“I came back to him about an hour later, in absolute agony,” Sam said in a Tik Tok video.

“He was completely out of it and seeing the severity of the situation, I decided to call an ambulance.  

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Erik was assessed by paramedics, who recorded his heart rate at just 37 beats per minute.

Erik remained in hospital overnight before flying home to the Sunshine Coast, bringing the trip to an abrupt end, with Sam mentioning the effects lingered for several days with Erik still feeling mentally unsettled after returning home.

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Sam later shared the experience on social media to warn others about how quickly drink spiking can take hold. The video attracted more than 250,000 reactions, with many viewers sharing similar experiences of their own.

“We don’t know when, where or who did it,” Sam said in the video.  

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“These horrible people don’t just spike you to commit sexual assault, they also spike you to rob you on your way home.  

“A lot of blokes have the same mindset as me, and they need to know this can happen at anytime at any place to anyone.”  

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Erik’s ordeal echoes an account previously shared with this newspaper by an Airlie Beach resident, who believes her drink was tampered with while she was out with a group of friends.

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The young woman, who chose not to be identified, remembered little between drinking at the venue and finding herself isolated in a bathroom, where her body would no longer respond as she tried to call for help.

“It wasn’t like being drunk,” she said at the time.

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“My mind was present, but I couldn’t control my body.”

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“I wanted to pick up my phone to call a friend, but it was like I couldn’t control my body.”

After repeatedly trying to get herself off the floor, the woman was left bruised and sore before being taken home safely by a friend.  

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During a later hospital visit, she described what had happened to a doctor, who told her the symptoms indicated her drink had likely been spiked.  

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Together, the two accounts show how suddenly suspected drink spiking can take effect and why an unexpected reaction after only a small amount of alcohol should never be dismissed.

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