A British backpacker who was given ‘free vodka’ at the Laos hostel at the centre of a suspected mass methanol poisoning told how she had a lucky escape.
The tourist, who wished to remain anonymous, consumed the booze at the Nana Backpacker Hostel in the party region of Vang Vieng.
This is where some of the six victims to die were known to have stayed.
Fatalities include British lawyer Simone White, 28, from Orpington in Kent, who died after consuming methanol, a chemical compound used in alcohol as a cheap alternative to ethanol.
It can be sold to tourists, but just 4ml of methanol can cause blindness. A 30ml measure – the size of a single shot in the UK– can be lethal.
The unnamed woman told how she became incredibly ill after consuming the drink, experiencing temporary blindness, vomiting and struggling to breathe.
‘I just thought I was hungover, I spent the day going between my room and the toilet, just vomiting,’ she told The Herald Sun.
‘I had my eyes closed when I was walking to the toilet because I couldn’t see. I called my boyfriend and he said “please get some help, go to the hospital”.’
The woman had consumed the free shots at around 3pm, before going on a river tubing activity with her friends.
She revealed that she could not remember any of the event, and three out of the fifteen in her group had also taken ill.
The backpacker, who eventually recovered, was taken to hospital with a heart-rate twice the normal speed, where doctors had to put her on a saline drip for hours.
She said she had met some of the six travellers who died, and just feels ‘terrible’ for Holly, Bianca, and their families, the two teenagers from Melbourne who died after consuming the tainted alcohol.
Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles were on the ‘trip of a lifetime’ after finishing school when they died from methanol poisoning in Laos.
‘Our daughter was on the trip of a lifetime with one of her best mates,’ Bianca’s father said.
‘This was meant to be a trip full of lifelong memories, and was to be the first of many.
‘Bianca wanted to explore the world, meet new friends, lead and create change for good.’
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