Six spring breakers at a Florida rental home suffered cardiac arrest from a drug overdose, leaving one in critical condition, according to a report.
Paramedics responded to a short-term Airbnb rental home on Thursday in Wilton Manors and found six people overdosed on fentanyl-laced cocaine, WPLG reported.
“Narcan was deployed as quickly as possible,” Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Chief Stephen Gollan said, referring to a drug that reverses the effects of opioid overdoses. “This is extremely alarming to us.”
The students thought they were taking cocaine but didn’t know the drug has been laced with fentanyl — a synthetic opioid eighty to hundred times stronger than morphine, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
“It’s extremely, extremely potent and can stop your heart, your respiration,” Gollan told NBC Miami.
Only four of the vacationers took the laced cocaine. Two other students got sick after trying to save the overdose victims, according to authorities.
“When they went down in cardiac arrest, two of their friends began doing CPR, and they were exposed from the drug contact from the fentanyl,” Gollan said.
One of the students was said to be in critical condition after they were transported to the hospital. Five other students were reported to be in a stable condition. It’s unclear what school they attend, NBC Miami reported.
“Spring break has come off the beach and into communities,” Gollan said. “And that’s what you’re seeing here.”
A neighbor said she saw paramedics rushing to the home and bringing out the overdosed students from the home while unconscious before “just laying them on the grass,” NBC Miami reported.
Meanwhile, another woman who lives nearby said she saw nothing out of the ordinary before the mass overdose.
“They seem like good kids, typical college kids,” the Wilton Manors resident told CBS Miami. “Rowdy in the pool, but they don’t deserve this.”
Taking to Twitter, Wilton Manors police later sent out a warning to other spring breakers now in south Florida.
