Poison champagne at a party in Bavaria: the owner describes gruesome details – "We were foaming at the mouth"
Created: 2022-02-15, 2:17 p.m
By: Cornelia Schramm
A man has died in Weiden after drinking champagne poisoned with ecstasy.
Investigators are now releasing new details about the case.
Update, Monday, February 14, 4:30 p.m .:
In the case of a champagne bottle poisoned with ecstasy, two of the victims were able to leave the clinic on Monday, said the senior public prosecutor Schäfer.
By noon, some of the injured had already been questioned as witnesses.
Further surveys are pending.
The focus of the investigators is on the origin of the champagne bottle.
"The sales channel is carefully examined," said Schäfer.
It will be checked whether or where or by whom the bottle was manipulated.
It would be perfectly possible to open a bottle, pour in the drugs and reseal the bottle in a way that would not be noticed.
According to Schäfer, the manufacturer has not yet been contacted.
Poisoning drama in Weiden: guests immediately complained about the taste of champagne
The guests in the restaurant are said to have immediately complained about the taste of the champagne.
"It was probably conspicuous, not to say horrible," says Schäfer.
The ecstasy contained in the bottle was highly concentrated.
Even a small amount was enough to cause physical reactions.
According to information from the German Press Agency, the investigators are currently not assuming that one of the guests poured the drug into the bottle.
One participant from the group also filmed the opening of the bottle.
The group is said to have been regular guests - the landlady also clinked glasses.
According to a police spokesman, the restaurant will remain closed for the time being.
The body of the dead man was autopsied, the investigators assumed drug poisoning as the cause.
The mayor of Weiden, Jens Meyer (SPD), spoke on Monday of a "deeply sad day".
The impression of the police work on site moved him deeply.
"I am affected and stunned." He expressed his condolences to the relatives of the dead man and wished the injured a speedy and full recovery.
"Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you," he wrote to the victims.
Poisoned champagne bottle: Lessor of the restaurant - "They were foaming at the mouth"
Update, Monday, February 14, 3:20 p.m .:
The lessor of the restaurant, Harald Rippl, spoke as part of
the BR’s live switch
to the location of the poisoning drama.
According to his reports, there was a large contingent of emergency services that evening, although they initially assumed that there was a gas leak.
When the people were carried out by the rescue service, terrible scenes would have played out.
"People looked like they were having an epileptic fit.
They were foaming at the mouth.
Two women screamed so badly that you heard it two houses down.” However, it is not yet clear whether other such contaminated bottles are in circulation.
Poisoned champagne bottle: Public prosecutor's office gives details about the contents of the bottle
Update, Monday, February 14, 2:45 p.m .:
After the death of a restaurant visitor in Weiden in the Upper Palatinate, one thing is certain: the drug ecstasy was in a bottle of champagne – “in a significant concentration”, as the chief public prosecutor Gerd Schäfer said Monday said.
He referred to the results of an initial toxicological analysis of the contents of the bottle.
It is still unclear how the drug got into the bottle.
Investigators rule out a targeted attack.
According to Schäfer, there is a suspicion of negligent homicide.
According to previous knowledge, several guests between the ages of 33 and 52 shared a bottle of champagne on Saturday evening.
Soon after, everyone would have shown signs of poisoning.
Eight of those affected were taken to a hospital, and a 52-year-old from the Schwandorf district died on Sunday night.
According to the police, one victim has since been able to leave the clinic.
By Monday noon, some of the injured had already been heard as witnesses.
According to Schäfer, further surveys are pending.
+++ BR will soon be switching live to the location of the poisoning drama:
we will broadcast and tick the switch to the champagne poisonous death in Weiden live here.
Update, Monday, February 14, 11:03 a.m .:
Poisoned champagne is said to have led to the death of a man in a restaurant in Weiden in the Upper Palatinate.
"It had a toxic, poisonous effect," said senior public prosecutor Gerd Schäfer on Monday.
"There were things in it that don't actually occur in champagne." The toxicological tests have been completed.
"There are already results."
It is still unclear whether these will be published on Monday.
Schäfer did not want to confirm the picture report (see original article below), according to which the champagne could have been mixed with the drug ecstasy.
Original article, Sunday, February 13th: Weiden in der Oberpfalz
– After a visit to an Italian restaurant in Weiden, a 52-year-old man died.
"According to preliminary findings, there is a suspicion that eight people in the bar drank a contaminated drink, which led to symptoms of poisoning," says Andrea Meier, spokeswoman for the police headquarters in Upper Palatinate.
According to
bild.de
, it is already clear what was in the huge champagne bottle: a large amount of ecstasy.
So much so that the crystalline party drug turned champagne pink and even a few sips from that champagne bottle were deadly.
Around 1:30 p.m., the emergency services received the call.
"Some were lying on the ground and a few were having seizures when officers arrived," says Meier.
The eight injured came to surrounding hospitals in Regensburg, Amberg and Tirschenreuth.
In one of them, a 52-year-old from the Schwandorf district died during the night.
The group had shared a magnum bottle of champagne in the Italian restaurant on Unteren Markt, as reported by "Der Neue Tag".
At the same time, a television program is said to have run in the restaurant, in which a man from Regensburg, who was known to the regulars, took part.
According to the newspaper, the bottle was sealed correctly and bought the day before.
Weiden: Group of friends drinks from a magnum bottle – a man dies
"Currently there is no evidence that something was intentionally filled into the bottle in the restaurant," says Meier.
After the first sip, however, the guests, between 33 and 52 years old, are said to have felt nauseous, according to "Der Neue Tag".
In addition, the drink was not transparent, but discolored.
The Weiden Criminal Police Inspectorate has set up the special “Market” commission to clarify the matter and is hoping for tips from witnesses.
"One person has already been discharged from the hospital," says Meier.
"The lives of the others are no longer in danger."
The Soko will now have to clarify how the large amount of the drug could have gotten into the champagne.
The bottle was not bought by partygoers until the same day.
The police's most likely theory is therefore that smugglers dissolved the drug in the champagne in order to later filter it out and sell it.
(sco)
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