Teenage Queensland boy fighting for life and five others suffering symptoms after mystery substance

One teenage boy has been rushed to hospital in a critical condition and five more are ill after ingesting a ‘mystery substance’ at home in mid-North Queensland.

Police are currently at four-bedroom home at 37 Malcomson Street, North Mackay after emergency services were called to the house around 10.55am.

Six teenagers, three boys and three girls, required medical treatment. Queensland Police said initial inquiries indicated ‘they had ingested an unknown substance’.

All six – aged between 12 and 16 – were transported to Mackay Base Hospital with a 15-year-old boy in a critical condition.

Neighbours said a family had just moved into the home about eight weeks after it had been on the market for months, they said.

‘They kept themselves to themselves though – we never really saw them,’ said one. ‘We saw the ambulances and police cars this morning but didn’t see anything more.

‘There’s a dip at the front and unusually there were quite a few cars there today, plus about eight police cars and ambulances. 

‘It’s quite a big home but I don’t know if all the children involved are from the same family. We never saw them playing in the front yard though.’

Police have declared a crime scene while detectives and scenes of crime and forensic scientists have launched a probe into the mystery substance. 

A Queensland Police spokesman added: ‘Investigations are continuing.’