Budgewoi: Three male drug overdose victims discharged from hospital, woman now stable, `ketamine’ being investigated
UPDATE: Three male overdose victims from a house at Budgewoi have been discharged from hospital, a fourth is now stable while a woman has also been downgraded from critical to stable.
Central Coast
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The condition of a young woman found unconscious along with four males following a drug overdose at Budgewoi has improved from critical to stable.
It comes as police begin to identify what drug, or toxic combination, triggered the overdoses with `ketamine’ now thought to be a common factor among the five victims.
The five young people, all aged in their late teens to early 20s, were found unconscious by another occupant when they arrived at a house on Noela Ave shortly before 3pm on Tuesday.
Eight paramedic crews rushed to the scene along with the CareFlight Rapid Response helicopter, which landed across the road at Halekulani Oval.
However the four males were taken by ambulance to Gosford Hospital in a stable condition while the woman was taken by road to Wyong Hospital in a critical condition.
A police spokesman said Tuggerah Lakes officers had not yet had the opportunity to speak to the overdose victims because of their condition.
He said it could also be some weeks before laboratory results could identify what drug, combination of substances or toxic ingredient caused the five people to overdose.
“It’s not CSI, it takes time,” he said.
A Central Coast Local Area Health spokeswoman said three of the males had since been discharged from Gosford Hospital where a fourth male remained in a serious but stable condition.
She said the woman also remained at Wyong Hospital in a stable condition.
Dozens of people congregated outside the house with neighbours saying they heard sirens and came outside to see the street blocked by emergency services vehicles.
Investigations are continuing.