Desperate attempts to save Coronation Street actor who collapsed after holiday drugs binge

Promising actor Joseph Wandera, 27, tragically died while on holiday for a dance festival with friends in Costa Rica in 2022 after taking a concoction of unknown drugs

Joseph Wandera's friends desperately tried to save his life after finding him having a seizure on the floor.

The "joyful" actor sadly died at an apartment in the beach resort of Tamarindo in Costa Rica on January 16, 2022. Joseph, who had a role in Coronation Street in 2018, had been abroad for the BPM music festival with friends when he suddenly collapsed, an inquest heard on Tuesday.

A toxicology report found there were recreational drugs in Joseph's blood. Area coroner Catherine McKenna said the medical cause of death was 'ketamine and MDMA toxicity'. She added: "Joseph took these drugs of his own free will and I'm satisfied he did not intend this outcome."

Joseph was a week into his holiday when he got lost "in the middle of a forest by the coast" in the early hours of the morning and messaged his friend asking for help. Fellow holidayer Renay Zollner told the court she received a WhatsApp text from Joseph at 3am asking if she could pick him up.

She drove 50 minutes to find him and said Joseph had bags under his eyes but this was "normal". Renay said: "All of us were sleep-deprived because of all the partying, drinking and drugs". He could not provide her with the location of his villa, so she drove him back to her apartment, the MEN reports.

Joseph suggested he sleep on the sofa, but she refused and put a blanket over him on the bed. She noted he was "not hot or sweaty". Then at 7.15am, one of the boys who had also stayed at her apartment called Fidel, woke her up to say Joseph was "fitting on the floor". Renay told him to put him in the recovery position.

Five minutes later, Fidel shouted at her to come down and he "looked panicked". She said she found Joseph on the floor and she could not find a pulse but could detect some breathing. The ambulance service was called and Renay said they were advised to "start CPR", with Fidel desperately doing chest compressions.

When paramedics arrived at the apartment, they said "nothing more could be done", Renay said. His devastated mum, Claire Beatson, told the court that she was "shocked" to discover Joseph had taken ecstasy and admitted to his girlfriend, Alison Maloney, that he had consumed an unknown drug called 'Pink Stuff'.

The day before his death, he texted her to say he was "getting on it like mad". The next morning, he sent another chilling text to his girlfriend, who was back in England, that read: "Not gonna lie, I don't know what was in the f***ing thing that I f***ing took. I can only type with my left hand and now I can't see out of my left eye."

The coroner said she hoped the death "serves as a warning to people taking recreational drugs". She added: "Joseph was a talented, gregarious and joyful young man who had a promising career ahead of him and everything to live for."