A British lawyer is among 14 tourists rushed to hospital with suspected methanol poisoning after drinking toxic shots at a popular backpacker destination in Laos.
Simone White, 28, from Orpington in southeast London, fell seriously ill after consuming drinks in the tourist hotspot of Vang Vieng.
Two Danish women in their 20s, an Australian teenager and an American have died following the incident on November 12.
White, an intellectual property and technology lawyer at American law firm Squire Patton Boggs, remains in hospital following the poisoning.
Tourists in Laotian holiday resort Vang Vieng have died and fallen ill after the ‘toxic shots’
REUTERS
Bethany Clarke, also from Orpington and a friend of Ms White, issued an urgent warning to other travellers in the area.
“Our group stayed in Vang Vieng and we drank free shots offered by one of the bars. Just avoid them as so not worth it,” she wrote on a Facebook group for backpackers.
Clarke described how she became “very fatigued and then fainted, then just felt nauseous and then my liver started to shut down.”
“I got to the private hospital in time but underwent many infusions and tablets and days of recovery,” she added.
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Friends Simone White and Bethany Clarke were both caught up in the harrowing holiday incident
Duong Duc Toan, the owner of Nana Backpacker Hostel in Vang Vieng, denies serving tainted drinks at his establishment.
Toan said he had served more than 100 guests free shots of Lao Tiger vodka mixed with ice and Coke Zero that evening.
“Right now the police [are telling] every hostel and hotel and bar to stop selling drinks in Vang Vieng,” he said.
“The police in Vang Vieng and [the capital] Vientiane already came to the hostel to check, the shop [where] we buy the vodka, check the shop [where] we buy the whisky.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed 19-year-old Bianca Jones’s death
Two Australian teenagers, Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones, both 19 from Melbourne, were fighting for their lives in a hospital in Thailand following the incident.
Bowles remains in critical condition, with her father Shaun telling reporters outside Bangkok Hospital that she is on life support in intensive care.
The Jones family flew to Thailand to be by Bianca’s bedside before the 19-year-old tragically died on Thursday.
“They were filled with joy and had such incredible adventures ahead of them, travelling through Asia.
“We are here by Bianca’s bedside praying for her,” the family said in a statement.
The UK Foreign Office confirmed it is “providing consular assistance to British nationals and their families” following the incident in Laos.
Methanol, sometimes used as a cheap alternative to ethanol in alcoholic drinks at disreputable bars, can be lethal even in small doses.
The NHS warns that as little as 4ml of methanol can cause visual hallucinations and blindness.
Local authorities have launched an investigation into the incident, with Denmark’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirming that two of its citizens had died.
The US State Department also confirmed the death of an American citizen, aged 56, on Thursday morning in in the popular party town of Vang Vieng.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the Department of Foreign Affairs had confirmed Jones’s death.
“Our first thoughts in this moment are with her family and friends who are grieving a terrible and cruel loss,” he said.