2 Frenchmen critically ill after 9 overdose in Australia
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Two Frenchmen are fighting for their lives after a mass drug overdose in an Australian household that sent nine European backpackers to a hospital.
The white powder that the nine snorted in Perth city on Tuesday has been identified as the common prescription medication hyoscine, which is used to treat various medical problems including travel sickness.
The Western Australia state health department says two Frenchmen, ages 22 and 25, were in an intensive care unit and in critical condition Friday, while a German woman was in an induced coma in serious but stable condition.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The other people affected — three French citizens, a German, Italian and Moroccan, all ages 21 to 25 — have been released from the hospital.
The patients told authorities they thought the drug was cocaine.