A man has died and seven other people become seriously ill after unknowingly drinking Champagne spiked with Ecstasy at a bar in Germany.

Police said the incident happened Saturday night in the Bavarian town of Weiden, shortly after a group of people had ordered and shared one bottle of champagne. When police arrived at the bar, they found people lying on the ground with cramps and eight of them had to be hospitalised.

The 52-year-old man died shortly after he was admitted to the hospital. One of the other victims has since been allowed home.

Senior prosecutor Gerd Schaefer said “there were things in it that normally are not in Champagne. It had a toxic, a poisonous effect.”

He added that toxicological tests showed the poisonous substance “in considerable concentration” in the Champagne was Ecstasy, but said it was not yet clear how the drug got into the bottle.

Schaefer said there was a suspicion of negligent homicide but it did not appear that the poisoning was a targeted attack. He did not elaborate, citing the ongoing investigation.

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