Mass Overdoses Plague Melb Dance Festival With Over 20 Hospitalisations

22 people were hospitalised and 40 arrested at dance music festival Electric Parade in Melbourne over the weekend, due to a suspected potent batch of synthetic drug GHB.

As The Age reports, 25 people were treated at the festival while 22 were taken to hospital in a critical condition, in what Ambulance Victoria states is the highest number of overdoses they had seen at a music festival for quite some time.

Ambulance Victoria's State Health Commander Paul Holman said, "It would appear we've had a significant amount of drugs at the party at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl.

"We've transported 22 people from that event alone, and we're now up to 30-plus from that event and across the city, all with GHB overdoses, all critically ill.

"Paramedics treated seven other people who left the event and collapsed in nearby parks and streets."

No deaths have been reported, though 28 people received diversions from the police and two received cannabis cautions.

The incident follows one death and 20 hospitalisations in Melbourne's Chapel Street precinct last month, suspected to be due to a toxic batch of MDMA.