British parents fear teen son Lee Bartlett died in Laos hostel in 2019 of methanol poisoning
The parents of a British teen who died in 2019 while staying at the same Laos hostel where six other deaths have been linked to methanol poisoning fear he may have suffered the same fate.
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Parents of a British teen who died in 2019 at the same Laos hostel Australian friends Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles unknowingly drank fatal amounts of methanol believe their son may have been poisoned in the same way.
Lee Bartlett died at the Nana Backpacker Hostel on May 3, 2019, and was found unresponsive in the early hours of the morning by pal Flynn Fawcett.
The 19-year-old roofer, from west Wales, was two months into the “dream trip” backpacking around Asia.
His dad Mark, 57, says that he now fears his son also died from methanol poisoning, The Sun reports.
The Nana Backpacker Hostel has been linked to the deaths of 19-year-olds Bianca and Holly, British lawyer Simone White, 28, Danish women Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20, Freja Vennervald Sorensen, 21, and American James Louis Hutson, 56.
A third Australian, a dual national, has fallen ill with what is also suspected to be methanol poisoning.
Mr Bartlett said: “As soon as we saw the methanol poisonings on the news, it crossed our minds that the same thing might have happened to our son.
“We’ve always wondered exactly what went on, but we’ve never really been able to get to the bottom of it unfortunately.
According to The Sun, guests staying at the Nana Backpacker hostel are offered free shots for two hours every night.
The hostel’s owner, Duong Duc Toan, has denied any responsibility, saying 100 guests were given vodka on the night of the alleged poisoning, but just a handful fell ill.
Lee’s father and mum Helen, 56, believe police failed to properly investigate their son’s death. “We never saw anything from the police in Laos. They just classed it as sudden death – a natural thing. I don’t think there was any investigation ever done.
“We would’ve liked to have got some answers at the time, but there’s not a lot you can do in countries like that. They don’t really investigate anything – they just accept that these things happen and move on … Lee was a fit and healthy guy, so there was no real reason why he would suddenly die. We’ve always thought that there was something not quite right.”
Eight hostel staff members were arrested on Monday as Laos’ government promised to “bring the perpetrators to justice.”
A media conference was held in Laos on Tuesday after the family of Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles had urged for a full investigation in an emotional statement at the weekend.
The bodies of the Melbourne teens were on a repatriation flight back to Australia on Tuesday evening, with their parents on the same plane.
The hostel remains closed while police continue their investigation.
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Originally published as British parents fear teen son Lee Bartlett died in Laos hostel in 2019 of methanol poisoning
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