Woman who survived 'methanol poisoning' in Laos opens up about harrowing incident in which six tourists died
A woman who survived an alleged 'methanol poisoning' which killed six tourists in Laos has opened up on her experience.
Last November, six backpackers from passed away in Vang Vieng, Laos after drinking alcohol which had been laced with methanol.
The travellers were later identified as Danish tourists Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20, and Freja Vennervald Sorensen, 21, Aussie friends Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles, both 19, British backpacker Simone White, 28, and American national James Louis Hutson, 57.
Several tourists were also hospitalised in the incident.
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At least five of the tourists who died were believed to have been staying at Nana Backpacker Hostel when the poisoning occurred.
Several months after the tragedy, a sixth woman has spoken out about surviving the tragedy.
Bethany Clarke was a longterm friend of Simone's and the pair had agreed to meet each other for a holiday together in Laos.
Bethany had consumed the same amount of alcohol as her friend Simone on the night in question, recalling in an interview with Australian news programme 60 Minutes that they had consumed free shots - unaware of the contamination.
"If it looked dodgy, I wouldn't have drunk it," Bethany explained. "We went up to the bar and I watched him pour them out from a glass bottle with a vodka label on it."
Sue White, the mother of Simone, agreed, adding: "You don't question it, do you really, if you're on holiday.
"If it's come out of a bottle with a label on it, you just assume that's what's in the bottle."
The day after consuming the 'five or six shots' Bethany remembered she and Simone woke up feeling extremely unwell. Explaining the symptoms she experienced, she recalled suffering from fatigue, nausea and even fainting.
"You just physically can't move. It's like you are more or less paralysed," she said.
After being taken to hospital Simone's condition would rapidly deteriorate, with the lawyer unable to breathe on her own. Bethany was then forced to ring Sue in the early hours of the morning, to get consent for doctors to perform emergency brain surgery on her daughter.
"It was just dreadful," Sue said. "It was the the worst experience of my life."
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Simone would die several days later, with her mother recalling the harrowing experience of having to switch off her daughter's ventilator.
Bethany has since returned to the UK after making a full recovery and is mourning the loss of her close friend.
"[It] could've easily been me," Bethany said, admitting that it had been a 'struggle' to come to terms with the fact that she survived and Simone didn't.
"Obviously we want to spread awareness and make sure [that] other people don't have to go though this.
"And then I can start on my own journey of trying to come to terms with it."
Eight hostel workers were detained in the aftermath of the deaths in November. However the parents of the Australian and Danish women revealing their frustration at the lack of updates from the government in Laos.
"I cannot have my daughter's passing not mean anything," Mark Jones, father of Bianca, told 60 Minutes.
"We want some form of closure. We want to understand that people who have done wrong by our daughter and Holly and the other people are going to be brought to justice."
Topics: World News, Travel, Alcohol
Brenna Cooper