Teen dies after suspected overdose
FRIENDS are mourning a 15year-old boy who died in hospital after a suspected drug overdose that also hospitalised five other teens.
Jerome Banu died early Friday morning in Mackay Base Hospital after ingesting an unknown substance believed to be a drug.
Jerome, along with five others aged 12 to 16, were at the Malcomson St home with a 36-year-old woman when he went into cardiac arrest just after 10.20am.
He was unconscious when paramedics arrived about 10.30am, and a search of the home quickly found five other teens with “high blood pressure” in other rooms.
QAS senior operations
supervisor Ross Vickers said they were not advised of any other patients until they arrived on the scene.
“The case started to unfold from there,” he said.
“We found more and more patients located through different rooms of the house.
“The information provided from one or two individuals was that there were more and more people involved.
“There was high levels of anxiety involved and most of the patients had a high blood pressure and their hearts were racing much faster than normal.”
Two 15-year-old girls and a second 15-year-old boy were discharged from the hospital on Thursday afternoon.
A 12-year-old girl and a 16year-old boy remained in hospital in a stable condition on Friday.
Police were last night awaiting toxicology and blood test results to identify the substance, and detectives spent Friday speaking with the recovered children and the woman at the home.