Seizure mistaken for ‘panic attack’ by Laos hostel staff

One of two Danish women who drank vodka believed to be laced with methanol in Laos was seen dripping with sweat and convulsing shortly before she died.

Hostel staff called to help a Danish woman who was dying after drinking vodka believed to be laced with methanol in Laos massaged her feet, describing her seizure as a “panic attack”.

Danish travellers Freja Vennervald Sorensen, 21, and Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20, were staying at Nana Backpacker Hostel in Vang Vieng when they got sick after a night out on November 13 - the day after Melbourne teenagers Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones drank fatal doses of methanol while staying at the same venue.

All four travellers died in the mass poisoning incident, along with US man James Hutson and British woman Simone White. Dozens of others were sent to hospital.

Allegations surrounding Ms Sorensen and Ms Coyman’s deaths have now been revealed by a backpacker who was supposed to meet them at the hostel. He was so distressed by the situation that he surveyed those impacted and compiled a report with his findings.

Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20, died on November 14 while backpacking around South East Asia. Facebook

Freja Vennervald Sorensen, 21, is believed to have died from methanol poisoning. Instagram

The author of the document said he redacted the names of the victims to protect himself and respondents from Laos authorities. It contains the account of a witness who tried to help the Danish women. Her account appears to be inconsistent with the story put forward by local media reports claiming hostel staff found the victims unconscious on the floor of a bathroom.

In the document, the witness said she accompanied one woman to hospital before she found the other on the floor “dripping in sweat and having a full seizure”.

When she called for help, a staff member massaged the woman’s feet, while saying, “I’m saving her, don’t worry”.

The witness continued trying to convince the worker that the Danish woman was having a seizure and to call an ambulance, but claimed the staffer didn’t appear to understand the severity of the situation and wouldn’t make the call.

“[The staffer] said she didn’t need an ambulance and that [the Danish woman] was just panicking and needed to calm down,” she said.

The victim eventually went to hospital via taxi.

There is no suggestion hostel staff knew the Danish woman was having a seizure.

The man who created the document was supposed to meet the Danish women on November 14, the day after they were taken to hospital, and became concerned when one told him she was violently ill. They were uncontactable by the time he arrived.

He spent a day searching for them, before one backpacker told him what happened.

“After searching for a whole day I overheard a story about a sick girl getting hospitalised and that she had been staying at Nana Backpackers Hostel,” he said. “I rushed there and showed the staff their names and photos.”

Staff told him the women had checked out of the hostel. That same worker sent him a voice note saying the women were in Laos’ capital, Vientiane.

Bianca Jones died after drinking vodka laced with methanol. Picture: Facebook

Holly Bowles died from methanol poisoning during a holiday in South-East Asia. Picture: Facebook

He grew frustrated when hospital staff were unhelpful and wouldn’t confirm whether the women had been admitted. Other hospitals didn’t have phone numbers.

“In the evening I contacted Danish woman one’s parents to let them know that I was concerned. They also were unable to make contact with their daughter or her friend on the phone,” he said.

Hospital admin staff in Vang Vieng laughed at him when he tried to communicate with him via translation app, so he grabbed a book with patient information off the counter. He found one of the Danish women’s names in the book, along with notes saying she was in a coma.

“I contacted Danish woman one’s father and asked if he could send someone to look there,” he said. “It was already late in the evening so I booked a bus from Vang Vieng to Vientiane to go and look for them myself in the morning.

“I went to bed and asked the parents to keep me up to date. In the night the father told me that I didn’t need to search for them any more because it had been confirmed to him that they both passed away.”

The Danish women died about a week before Ms Bowles and Ms Jones’ life support machines in Thailand were turned off.

Dr Yaher, who works at the hospital in the tourist town of Vang Vieng, was first to treat Ms Bowles. She died in a hospital nine days after being taken to his emergency room, 450 metres from the Nana Backpacker Hostel.

The doctor said Ms Bowles went from a state of reeling confusion to a coma in half an hour after arriving at the hospital at 2am. “She was confused and she was sleepy,” the doctor said at the small hospital. “We asked her what she had eaten or drunk, but she didn’t know what had happened.”

Nana Backpackers Hostel in Vang Vieng, where six tourists died from methanol poisoning (Photo by AFP)

Dr Yaher thought she might have taken too many of the cannabis sweets popular with backpackers on the “banana pancake trail” through Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. “We treated her symptomatically,” he said. “We put her on an IV drip and gave her vitamins. But after 30 minutes she had a seizure and went into a coma. I was so surprised. We gave her CPR, because she had difficulty breathing, and we intubated her and referred her to [the hospital in the capital] Vientiane.”

Ms Bowles was taken by ambulance first to Kasemrad International Hospital, then to Setthathirath Hospital in Vientiane and then to Thailand. She died there on Friday, the day after Ms Jones and after four others who had been staying at the same hostel.

The hostel is closed and its staff are being questioned by authorities, although no charges have been laid. Other tourists have reported falling ill after staying but the police have not yet confirmed that the poisoning happened there rather than at another bar or restaurant. “We see lots of tourists in this hospital,” Dr Yaher said.

“Usually it’s accidents, like falling off a motorbike, and sometimes people who have drunk too much. Not usually drugs, although sometimes local people take ketamine or methamphetamine. But in 30 years this is the first time I have seen methanol poisoning.”

Originally published as Seizure mistaken for ‘panic attack’ by Laos hostel staff