Two men fight for life after Corio incident

Two men were left fighting for life after being found slumped in a car in Corio on Saturday morning, in the latest of a series of alarming incidents involving illicit drug GHB.

Two men have been hospitalised after an incident on Saturday morning.

Two men who were taken to Geelong hospital in a critical condition on Saturday are believed to have taken illicit drug GHB.

It is the latest in a string of concerning incidents involving the substance locally.

Ambulance Victoria confirmed paramedics were called to a report of two men found in a car in Corio just after 8am on Saturday.

Paramedics treated both men and transported them to Geelong hospital in a critical condition.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman said officers were called to reports a car had stopped in the middle of Cox Road.

Two men were located inside the silver Mazda 3 sedan in an unresponsive state.

Officers searched the car and uncovered an illicit substance, believed to be drugs, the spokeswoman said.

“The driver, a 29-year-old Butler, WA man and his passenger, a 28-year-old Leopold man were not injured and taken to hospital for treatment,” she said.

“The circumstances surrounding the incident are being investigated.”

Barwon Health confirmed the men were in intensive care on Saturday morning.

Another person was admitted to ICU on Friday.

All three are believed to have ingested GHB, or a variation of the drug, and had left hospital by Sunday.

GHB – or gamma-hydroxybutyrate – works as a central nervous system depressant and is often referred to as liquid ecstasy, or a “date rape” drug.

It’s understood the patients are not presenting the usual way associated with GHB use.

It’s believed these patients are exhibiting symptoms including slow heart rates, unconsciousness and vomiting.

Three people were found unconscious across Geelong in a period of several hours on May 31 and taken to hospital.

Following this, Geelong hospital emergency department director Belinda Hibble told the Addy it was involved in a statewide multi-site study underway (Emerging Drugs Network of Australia – Victoria or EDNAV project) that analyses blood samples of people

presenting to emergency departments with side effects relating to recreational drug use.

Belinda Hibble is the director of Barwon Health's emergency department. Picture: Mike Dugdale

“This study enables rapid detection of potentially harmful drugs in the community, supporting

toxicology and emergency medicine teams to care for these patients effectively, and allowing for public health alerts for the community,” Dr Hibble said.

Originally published as Two men fight for life after Corio incident