A British woman has described how she nearly died after something was put in her drink while on holiday in Malia.
Emily Earle, 19, was on a girls’ trip to Crete, Greece, with four of her friends when they headed to a party. After just two hours, while on her third drink, Emily began to feel very unwell and fell asleep at the table at 5:30 p.m.
She said she felt very drunk and wandered around looking for a bathroom while her friends waited for a taxi; her friends found her within a couple of minutes in a hotel room with a group of guys.
They took Emily back to her hotel, but after a few hours, she was struggling. for breath and falling in and out of consciousness, and was rushed to hospital in an ambulance, said the 19-year-old, from Crawley, West Sussex.
Emily said doctors confirmed she had taken drugs and believes a fellow partygoer must have slipped something into one of her drinks.
Emily Earle, 19, was on a girls’ trip to Crete, Greece, with four of her friends when they headed to a party. After just two hours, while on her third drink, Emily began to feel very unwell and fell asleep at the table at 5.30pm (Emily is pictured in her hotel room during the ordeal)
Emily was taken back to her hotel but after a few hours she was struggling to breathe and going in and out of consciousness, and was rushed to hospital in an ambulance (pictured above), the 19-year-old from Crawley, West Sussex, said.
Emily (pictured) said doctors confirmed she had taken drugs and believes a fellow partygoer must have slipped something into one of her drinks.
Emily, a medical student at King’s College London, said: ‘It was a horrible and really traumatic experience for me, my family and friends.
‘I almost lost my life. I was afraid of the heat and the party was very crowded so I didn’t drink much. I knew something was very wrong because I suddenly felt very out of it and couldn’t remember things.
“I’m scared to think what would have happened if I had been separated from my friends. Shortly after we returned to our hotel, I was in critical condition because I was having trouble breathing; my condition worsened very quickly.
‘My friends and family were terrified. They thought they were losing me. My memory is spotty from about 5.30pm and I don’t remember much after leaving the party.
‘Getting injected is one of those things that happens to someone else, or to people who are not careful, but it can happen to anyone, no matter how careful you are.
“It’s very scary. You feel like you have no control, like all your options have been taken away from you.”
Emily and her friends went out on June 23. They were in the Malia strip on Wednesday, June 26, when they bought tickets to a party.
At the event, Emily says she had a Malibu and Coke and a Sex on the Beach cocktail, before starting with a vodka and pineapple.
She suddenly felt very drunk and started to fall asleep. She said: “I couldn’t understand it, none of my drinks had been strong.”
Emily’s friends brought her some food and she ate two BLTs, a burger and ice cream, but she was still hungry and very thirsty.
“That’s not like me,” she said. “I usually felt good after a BLT sandwich, they were huge.”
Emily’s friends drove her back to the hotel around 7:30 p.m. Despite their vigilance, Emily wandered off to find a bathroom while they waited for a taxi.
Emily (pictured during the ordeal) said: “I nearly lost my life. I was scared of the heat and the party was really busy so I didn’t drink much. I knew something was seriously wrong because I suddenly felt so out of it and couldn’t remember things.”
Emily said she woke up the next morning feeling fine and was told drugs had been found in her stomach, but doctors couldn’t say what drugs without a full toxicology report that had to be requested by police.
They found her within a couple of minutes in a hotel room with a group of boys. Back at the hotel they put her to bed and her condition quickly worsened, and she was left lying on the floor.
Emily’s hands and feet were cold to the touch and her skin was red and blotchy. Her breathing was shallow and rapid and she couldn’t feel her legs or open her eyes, and she was losing consciousness. Hotel staff called an ambulance.
Her frightened friends FaceTimed Emily’s family and everyone thought she might die, Emily says. She was taken to Herculanium University Hospital at around 9 p.m., where she was put on a drip.
She said she woke up the next morning feeling fine and was told drugs had been found in her stomach, but doctors could not say which drugs without a full toxicology report that had to be requested by police.
She doesn’t know what other treatment he received at the hospital because of the language barrier.
Emily’s mother arrived at the resort in the early afternoon and the group flew back to the UK on Sunday 30 June.
Emily said: “I really have no idea how it happened. We were very careful. We are very sensible and we did everything as a group. We were together the whole time.”
‘I’m very aware of the risks and I’m very cautious. One guy bought me a drink when we arrived and I didn’t touch it. If I had to leave a drink for whatever reason, I didn’t drink it again.
‘He had his hand on the top of my drinks when I wasn’t drinking them and even took them into the bathroom with me. I can only imagine someone elbowed me and someone else slipped something into me while I was distracted – the party was really packed.
“Everyone was searched on entry, but if someone wants to bring drugs in, they’ll find a way. What scares me most is the motive of whoever did it: was it just for fun or because they wanted me to go back to their hotel room?”
The language barrier meant Emily was unable to obtain much information about her hospital stay and deterred her from reporting the incident to the police.
Emily warned others to be vigilant, not to leave their drinks unattended and to stay with their friends.
She said: ‘A woman who was in bed next to me said this is very common. We can’t stop things like this from happening, but you can take steps to reduce the damage if it happens to you or one of your friends.
‘You can’t be too cautious. It’s very important to be with friends. Don’t accept a drink from someone else and don’t leave your drinks unattended.
‘Stay in your group and be very alert. Don’t drink close to your limit, as this can make it easier for someone to distract you.
‘If you don’t feel well, tell someone immediately. Watch out for unusual behavior in others. If someone is acting strangely, stay with them and get them to a safe place as quickly as possible, because they could be kidnapped.
“My friends did a great job. We were all very careful, but it still happened and it affected us all.”