A British tourist has died after he was thought to have taken drugs in Ibiza while on his first ever lads holiday.
Ryan Long, from Eastwood, Essex, tragically passed away last Tuesday after falling suddenly ill while on holiday with four friends.
The ‘outgoing’ 18-year-old had reported feeling unwell while in UNVRS nightclub, just a few hours after the group had first arrived at the popular party island on Wednesday, July 2. It is believed Ryan had taken an ecstasy tablet.
His friends, who noted that Ryan ‘didn’t seem right’ and had ‘started acting funny’ had initially helped him into a taxi, believing he would simply be able to ‘sleep it off’.
But tragically when the group returned to their accommodation, Ryan collapsed, went unconscious and ‘started foaming at the mouth’.
Given his dire condition, the teenager was quickly rushed to hospital in an air ambulance. His final word spoken was simply the name of his brother, Aaron.
Ryan, who fell into a coma that evening, tragically died in intensive care five days later.
Now, his devastated parents, who were by their son’s side when he passed, have pleaded for others to avoid taking illegal drugs when holidaying in locations such as Ibiza.
Their close friend Ben Bradford, owner of local football club Ben Bradford Goalkeeping Academy (BBGK), of which Ryan was a ‘long-standing member’, has also set up a GoFundMe page in a bid to help support the devastated family.
Speaking to MailOnline, Adrian Long, Ryan’s grief-stricken father, described his beloved son as ‘always full of life’ and ‘smiling’.
He said that both him and his wife, Angela, had first heard of Ryan’s illness in the early hours of the morning and immediately began looking for flights.
But, to their dismay, there were none available until Thursday, July 4. The couple, who described the agonising wait for any news as ‘unbearable’, said that medical professionals initially gave their son just two hours to live.
Ms Long, who tearfully said that she had ‘drummed into’ her son the importance of not taking drugs, believed that the ‘extortionate expense’ of food and drinks in Ibiza may have been what drove her son towards the narcotics.
She added: ‘I think what was in Ryan’s head was the expense of the clubs, the drinks. It was 52 euros for a single vodka and coke, it’s just extortionate.
‘He was doing an apprenticeship. He’s not on brilliant money. And I don’t know, I just think it was a cheaper option to get a fix, look somewhere else.’
Ryan, who was eventually airlifted to hospital in Palma De Mallorca, was suffering from acute and ‘deteriorating’ liver failure, with his body eventually unable to cope with the catastrophic affects of the drug.
Ms Long, who described the loss of her son as like a ‘dream’, advised other youngsters planning on visiting popular party holiday destinations like Ibiza that you are ‘not invincible’ and that it is ‘not worth taking the risk’.
Meanwhile, Ryan’s devastated father, said that he hoped his son’s experience would make other youngsters his age ‘aware’ of the possible implications of illegal drug use.
He added that his son, who had never been abroad without his parents before, had not even unpacked his suitcase at the time he took the fatal drug.
Mr Long said: ‘Everyone thinks nothing is going to happen to them but unfortunately it does. He’s not going to be the first and he won’t be the last.
‘The season is just starting so it’s possible it could happen again tonight, tomorrow or the weekend. It could be someone else’s child, and they’ll end up going through the same thing.
‘Ryan would be on his last year of his apprenticeship this year. He had everything to look forward to. It was his 19th birthday on Saturday night.’
Describing the excruciating moment the pair were eventually forced to part ways with their beloved son, Mr Long said: ‘You just want him to wake up, but obviously they’re not going to wake up. You hope that they do but in his case, he hasn’t.’
The distraught father, who also feared that his son may have been at a ‘slightly higher risk’ of death after taking the tablet due to suffering from a nut allergy, described Ryan’s friends as ‘traumatised’ by the tragic incident.
He added: ‘Ryan obviously didn’t know anything about it at the end, but he’s left his mates absolutely traumatised. They witnessed him going downhill and going unconscious.
‘I think one of them even went in the ambulance with him and was actually pumping something, the respirator, I think, in the ambulance, while the nurses and the paramedics were obviously dealing with him, tending to him.’
Ms Long, who said that the group had ‘done everything right’ and ‘couldn’t have done more’ described the loss of her son as ‘so unfair’, with the family planning to take everyday as it comes as they navigate their significant grief.
Meanwhile, Cliff, another close friend of the family, warned against the so-called ‘squeaky clean image’ of Ibiza as a holiday destination for youngsters, stating that he believes ‘things like this are happening all the time’.
He added: ‘We were told by the hospital that there had been five or six cases like this already.’
Ryan was a county swimmer and had won numerous swimming events. A keen scuba diver, he was even the youngest boy to qualify for his open water dive certification at a scuba centre in Cyprus.
Mr Bradford, who said that Ryan was a ‘lovely lad’ with a passion for DJing and a huge Southend United fan, described his decision to take drugs as ‘totally out of character’.
The football coach, who trains Ryan’s younger brother Aaron in goalkeeping, said: ‘It has sent shockwaves through the community because all of my coaches have had Aaron since he was young as well.
‘So, they all know Ryan and it has devastated them all. They’re all in bits. We’re probably going to do a minute of silence for him at our next sessions and do something in memory of him, just to get the community back with a bit of a feel-good thing.’
Describing Aaron as ‘Ryan’s best mate’ and utterly devastated by his brother’s death, Mr Bradford said that the GoFundMe page had been set up in a bid to help provide some support and ‘positivity’ to the family.
He added: ‘It’s not necessarily about the money, it’s more about the community showing a bit of love and that they care. The best way they can do that is just by putting something in the pot for them, if it takes care of funeral expenses or a memorial for him.’
The 40-year-old was also hopeful that sharing Ryan’s story may help to encourage other young people to ‘just think before you do drugs’.
He said: ‘I think young people just need a bit more education about this. They often think “Well it won’t happen to me, I’m invincible”, but it can happen.’
To help support Ryan’s family, you can donate to their GoFundMe page here.
