Argentina: Investigation of New Tainted Cocaine Victims Begins

Argentina's authorities are currently probing whether the six new hospitalized people in Rosario are victims of the contaminated cocaine tragedy, which has resulted in 24 deaths.

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According to health officials in the Santa Fe Province city, on Sunday evening, four people were hospitalized in the south of Rosario "with sensory deterioration and respiratory depression.,"  and late in the night, two more patients arrived, all "with a history of substance use."

"Some suffered convulsions and in the case of the critical patients, they were intubated. We can't say for the moment with what substance the intoxication was caused by; we are waiting for the courts to intervene," Rosario's deputy health secretary, Dr. Silvia Marmiroli, said for the TN news channel.

Marmiroli said their condition was caused by "the consumption of various substances, according to what patients have said," including "alcohol and psychotropic drugs." Some of the relatives said the patients had consumed drugs, "my brother went with a friend to buy drugs in the Las Flores neighborhood [in the south of Rosario] and then he started to feel sick, collapsed and fell to the ground."

The reports indicated that at least 24 people died last week after consuming contaminated cocaine. More than 200 people were treated because of the event. Around 20 are still hospitalized and under treatment.

An investigation continues to probe whether the six new cases in Rosario are related to last week’s fatalities in Buenos Aires Province; police officers confiscated more than 20,000 packages of drugs and arrested a dozen people involved in a series of raids.

A report released on Sunday disclosed that the initial testing on the drugs seized revealed that the cocaine was not cut with fentanyl, as suspected.