Mum of poisoned Brit Simone White reveals agonising 16hr Laos flight to stricken daughter after methanol-laced shot hell
The distraught mother of British lawyer Simone White has described her harrowing trip to see her “dying daughter” after she was murdered by alcohol laced with methanol.
Simone, 28, and five other people perished in a Laos party center within hours of consuming free alcohol.
The British lawyer from Kent became ill after drinking methanol-tainted shots with her friends while trekking in Laos.
Although it can result in fatalities or serious poisoning, the poisonous substance is occasionally employed as a less expensive substitute for ethanol.
Sue White, Simone’s distraught mother, made two flights to Laos after learning via phone that her daughter was critically ill.
The mother has now admitted that she was aware her daughter would pass away.
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She said to The Sunday Times: “I don’t know what it was, call it a mother’s intuition, but I knew she was going to die when I got that phone call.
Ms. White talked of the grueling 16-hour drive she had to make in order to be with her daughter, who was struggling for her life.
“It was the worst experience of my life,” she continued.
“I had to endure the entire flight believing she was undergoing brain surgery. It was an absolutely awful journey.
The distressed mother also shared the moment she arrived to the hospital and saw her daughter unresponsive.
“All of her gorgeous long blond hair had been chopped off in preparation for the procedure. I’ve never had a worse experience in my life,” she continued.
Five other travelers died from probable alcohol poisoning while Simone was vacationing in Vang Vieng, a popular destination for backpackers.
As a sign of hospitality, the lawyer and about 100 other visitors to the city’s Nana Backpackers hostel received complimentary shots concocted with local Tiger vodka.
However, it’s unclear how many sick visitors are still in the hospital and whether the reportedly methanol-laced drinks were actually consumed there.
Additionally, there have been allegations of potential poisoning victims from nearby establishments that sold Tiger Vodka.
The first person to raise the alert on the Laos Backpacking Facebook group was Simone’s friend Bethany Clarke, who is currently in the hospital due to illness.
She wrote: Please stay away from all local spirits immediately. We drank free shots from one of the pubs while we were in Vang Vieng.
“Just stay away from them; it’s not worth it. Currently, six of us who shared a drinking location are hospitalized due to methanol poisoning.
After 13 hours of vomiting blood, two Danish friends, Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20, and Freja Vennervald, 21, passed away.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, a witness who attempted to assist the couple told their distraught friend—who is collecting important testimony in Vang Vieng—what transpired prior to their passing.
According to the testimony, a female employee massaged one of the Danish women’s toes and feet during a seizure, and staff allegedly refused to call an ambulance.
After allegedly refusing to call an ambulance for guests who were dying, eight staff members at the Nana Backpacker guesthouse in Vang Vieng were arrested on Monday.
Following the hospitalization of multiple tourists, the local police conducted an investigation last week and detained the manager and bartender at the guesthouse Duong Duc Toan.
Previously, he disputed that the vacationers could have become ill from any drinks provided there.
Following the apparent mass methanol poisoning, two 19-year-old Australian friends, Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles, also passed away.
Also staying at the Nana Backpacker hostel were the teenagers from Melbourne.
On the morning of November 13, when the teenagers did not check out, workers raised the alarm.
While their relatives traveled to be with them, Bianca and Holly were sent to different hospitals in Bangkok, Thailand.
Tragically, Bianca passed away on Thursday, and Holly passed away the day after.
“With broken hearts, we are so sad to say that our beautiful girl Holly is now at peace,” Holly’s father Shaun told Nine News.
“We find comfort and solace in knowing that Holly bought so much joy and happiness to so many people.”
James Louis Hutson, a 57-year-old American, also passed away.
Finally addressing the incident, the Laotian government promised to “bring the perpetrators to justice.”
They continued: “The government of the Lao PDR reaffirms that it always attaches importance and pays attention to the safety of both domestic and foreign tourists.”
As previously reported by The Sun, some residents disclosed how a factory error could have caused the catastrophe, albeit it is yet unknown how these drinks could have been tampered with.
The Sun Herald cited anonymous sources who claimed that Tiger Vodka, which costs 36p a bottle, was produced on a property owned by the communist government of Laos.
According to the source, the government owns everything, or at least 90% of it.
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An error at a government-owned firm could have caused this, which would be one explanation.
Some have questioned whether methanol, which is less expensive and more hazardous, could have been used to enhance the already inexpensive beverage.
Why is methanol so deadly?
According to Sam Blanchard, The Sun’s health correspondent, METHANOL is a highly hazardous form of alcohol that can be found in drinks if it is added by criminals to make them stronger or if it is brewed or distilled improperly.
A single shot of tainted alcohol might be fatal, and 4 milliliters of methanol could be sufficient to cause blindness. The repercussions could be catastrophic.
According to Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology chemist Prof. Oliver Jones, the body changes methanol into formic acid.
An enzyme that is essential to the body’s usage of oxygen to produce energy is inhibited by formic acid.
If it malfunctions, cells are unable to absorb or utilize oxygen from the blood, and when cells begin to die, a shortage of oxygen leads to issues in many organs.
Seizures, lightheadedness, and vomiting are signs of methanol poisoning.
Methanol poisoning appears to be especially harmful to the optic nerve, which increases the risk of either temporary or permanent blindness and even death.
Although fortunately uncommon, methanol poisoning is extremely dangerous and should only be treated in a hospital.
Getting the patient intoxicated with regular alcohol, or ethanol, is an unexpected but crucial treatment for methanol poisoning because it diverts the liver’s attention and prevents it from digesting the methanol.
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