Queensland student Alex Shorey medically evacuated from Taiwan after being poisoned with rat poison

A young Queenslander has flown home after he ingested rat poison overseas and the investigation into what happened has taken a sinister turn.

Alex Shorey, 24, has finally been flown back to Australia after being medically evacuated from Taiwan.

The University of Queensland student from Toowoomba, who was in the final weeks of his year-long exchange program, fell ill last month and later was diagnosed with rat poison in his system.

But after weeks in Taipei, he touched down on home soil late Wednesday night.

The Shorey family initially believed contaminated street food was to blame for Alex’s condition, but police have ruled out accidental contamination, and the investigation has taken a more sinister turn.

His family revealed police are also looking into whether it was “deliberately administered”.

Ross Shorey-Kitson, Alex’s uncle, told 7NEWS, “It’s all speculative at the moment. All that’s been confirmed is the poison.”

Alex’s tragedy began early last month when he woke up one morning covered in blood.

His condition continued to worsen over several days, and he made multiple trips to the hospital before being rushed to the ICU.

Alex Shorey arrives back in Australia on a Medical extraction flight from Taipei after suffering a possible rat poisoning. Picture: David Clark

Alex’s father, Stephen Shorey told him to seek medical attention after noticing blood in his urine.

Alex arrived at Taipei Medical University Hospital with terrible abdominal pain and nausea. He went into hypovolaemic shock, and his condition deteriorated rapidly.

Alex’s family revealed he was “bleeding heavily from the nose … bleeding into his muscles and into his joints,” and his lungs were filled with fluid.

He then suffered a severe allergic reaction to a vitamin K treatment, resulting in cardiorespiratory collapse six days later.

Lizzy Shorey-Kitson, Alex’s aunt, confirmed that he suffered haemorrhaging and a life-threatening anaphylactic reaction to treatment in the hospital.

Alex Shorey is back in Australia.

The student was studying in Taipei.

The family also claimed a language barrier initially prevented Alex from getting the right treatment, and he was in and out of the hospital since Good Friday before being finally admitted to the ICU.

The delays in Alex’s treatment have resulted in severe organ damage, respiratory failure, and anaemia. Ms. Shorey-Kitson launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise more than $170,000 needed to fly Alex back to Australia for urgent medical treatment.

The GoFundMe campaign was a resounding success, with nearly 3000 people donating to the fund, raising a total of $208,682 for his medevac.

Thousands of friends, family and strangers raised the money for his medevac.

Alex’s parents and brother expressed their gratitude to those who donated, saying they were humbled by the messages of support.

“We have attempted three flights over the past few weeks, each one of them cancelled as Alex’s condition deteriorated further just prior to departure as the poison worked through his body, causing further complications,” they wrote in an update.

“So to have the reassurance that we can now fund the medical support and specialised medical retrieval services he needs is utterly amazing.”

The Shorey family is now focused on getting Alex the treatment he needs to recover from this ordeal. They remain hopeful that he will make a full recovery but acknowledge that the road ahead will be challenging.

– with NCA NewsWire