A number of delegates at a Germany homeopathy conference have been hospitalised after ingesting banned psychedelic drugs.
The incident occurred on Friday at an event in Handeloh, some 40km from Hamburg.
Deutsch Welle reports a criminal probe has been opened after 29 people somehow ingested what is believed to have been the amphetamine 2C-E or Aquarust.
The psychedelic drug was banned in Germany last year and has a euphoric effect similar to that of Ecstasy or Speed.
Public broadcaster NDR reports the patients, aged between 24 and 56, were found staggering in the grounds, speaking incoherently and suffering from hallucinations, convulsions and cramps.
First responders to the scene quickly called for back-up and 160 emergency workers eventually descended.
Fire service spokesman Mathias Köhlbrandt told the channel he did not believe the victims had knowingly taken the drug.
Torsten Passie, a member of a German government commission on narcotics said: “There must have been a multiple overdose. That argues against the people being aware what they were taking.”
It’s not yet known how the group came to ingest the drug, though there are unsubstantiated rumours it may have been an experiment or a prank.