Queensland police will grill the organisers of a bush doof where a 26-year-old Nimbin man died and two others were left critically ill after an apparent drug overdose.
Paramedics and revellers say the men displayed bizarre and erratic behaviour after apparently ingesting a drug at a New Year’s Day rave on a bush block at Mount Lindesay on the Queensland-NSW border.
Officers are waiting to interview the event’s organisers, after a 26-year-old man died from heart failure.
He has been identified as Jake Monahan of Nimbin.
Two others – a 29-year-old Clothiers Creek man and a 25-year-old Nimbin – were airlifted to the Gold Coast University Hospital in critical condition, and remained there yesterday in a serious condition.
Fellow revellers described the ‘possessed’ behaviour of one of the men.
‘It was terrible. He was possessed, crazy, not even human,’ one party goer, named only as Jade, told The Courier-Mail.
Queensland Ambulance Service supervisor Daniel Towson said one of the men was in a very bad way when paramedics arrived about 10.30am on Sunday.
‘They were met by the onsite medical staff that were there, with a patient in quite a critical condition. The medical staff were working quite hard on the patient,’ he said.
‘Shortly after paramedics arrived the patient went into cardiac arrest. The crews worked on him for a considerable amount of time but unfortunately were unable to resuscitate him.’
He said it soon became apparent that others had also been affected.
He said revellers take their lives in their own hands when they take illicit drugs, and the results are never predictable.
‘The effects can be catastrophic.’
Police said toxicology test results could take anything from a few days to a few weeks, as they press on with interviews.
‘Police will speak to everyone involved, including the organisers,’ a spokesperson said.
The death prompted HEMP Party secretary Andrew Kavasilas to renew calls for police to allow drug testing at festivals.
Meanwhile, on Monday police stopped and tested hundreds of revellers as they left the site.
Nine people were arrested on 12 charges, including five drivers accused of getting behind the wheel while under the influence of drugs.
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