Factory shutdown amid Laos poisoning
A factory believed to be the source of a methanol poisoning outbreak has been shut down as heartbreaking footage emerges of the Aussie teens’ final moments.
A factory is believed to be the source of a methanol poisoning outbreak that killed six tourists including two Australian teenagers.
The rundown shed is located outside of Vientiane, the Laos capital, and has been shut down by authorities. The owner has also been arrested.
According to the ABC, the factory was believed to be making Tiger Vodka and Tiger Whisky with the sale and consumption of the two beverages now prohibited.
On Friday, SmartTraveller updated its travel advice to Australians visiting Laos warning them to avoid consuming the products due to “serious safety concerns”.
“Lao authorities have issued an order prohibiting the sale and consumption of Tiger Vodka and Tiger Whisky due to their concerns about these products being a health risk,” it states.
The ABC obtained a document from the Ministry of Health’s Department of Food and Drugs that stated the banning of the two products and closure of the premises “until the manufacturer improves the factory production process to ensure safety and quality according to standards”.
The publication visited the factory and discovered blue plastic had been draped over stacks of empty bottles.
Tiger Whisky packaging could also be seen on the ground beside the remnants of a small fire.
In total, 12 people have been arrested including two Indian men, aged 24 and 30, and a 35-year-old Filipino woman working at Nana Backpackers Hostel in Vang Vieng who were arrested earlier this week.
No charged have been laid in the latest arrests.
Heartbreaking footage of Aussie teens
It comes as heartbreaking footage has emerged of Melbourne friends Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles, both 19, happily enjoying their time at a bar, shortly before they died.
The eight-second clip obtained by the Herald Sun shows the best friends laughing and smiling at a bar at the Blue Lagoon, about 30 minutes’ drive from their accommodation in Vang Vieng, in mid-November.
The clip shows the duo with two other male travellers clinking their canned drinks in a “cheers” motion.
The video was taken days before they tragically died of suspected methanol poisoning after allegedly being served vodka shots at Nana Backpackers Hostel.
The mother of a British lawyer Simone White, 28, who was among six others who also died, has spoken publicly for the first time.
Simone was with two childhood friends – one who lives in Australia – who fell ill after a night out. Her friends survived.
They reportedly drank six vodka shots from the hostel, mixed with Sprite from a local supermarket, the night of the poisoning.
A bottle of local-branded Tiger vodka that was used for “free shots” at Nana Backpackers Hostel is one theory to how the group of backpackers fell ill, but hostel staff deny adding to the bottle.
Simone’s mother, Sue White, said when she got a call to say that her daughter was in a critical condition after drinking contaminated vodka, she embarked on the 16-hour journey to be by her bedside.
“I knew when I had that phone call – I don’t know what it was, call it a mother’s intuition – but I knew that she was going to die,” she told The Sunday Times.
Ms White’s two friends survived the experience but are said to be traumatised. Her body will be repatriated this weekend for her funeral.
“Please be careful when it comes to drinks. Simone was a university-educated, highly intelligent person. If it can happen to her, it can happen to anybody,” Sue warned other travellers.
Sue, 61, a travel agent, took a Saturday flight to Bangkok from Heathrow, then a second flight to Laos.
“The flight from the UK was horrendous,” she told The Sunday Times. “Before I left, I got a call from the hospital to say she needed urgent brain surgery and I had to give my consent.
“I had to go through the whole flight thinking she was going through brain surgery. It was a terrible, terrible journey.”
The British newspaper reported that tragically Simone’s brain function was gone and her mother switched off her ventilator on November 21, nine days after drinking the vodka at the hostel.
Meanwhile, the families of Australian victims Ms Jones and Ms Bowles have created a fundraiser to help launch a campaign raising awareness about methanol poisoning.
They have promised to “create meaningful change and keep Bianca and Holly’s memories alive”.
So far, more than $388,800 has been raised.
What is methanol
Methanol is highly toxic and as little as one shot can be fatal. It is difficult to distinguish from ethanol, the alcohol found in beer, wine, and spirits, because it is colourless, odourless, and tasteless.
Dr Blair Aitken from Swinburne’s Centre for Mental Health and Brain Science explained that in some cases, dangerously high methanol levels were created during illegal alcohol production or home distillation “due to poor control during the distillation process”.
But in other cases, “methanol is intentionally added to counterfeit alcohol because it is easier to produce and a cheap way to increase alcohol content”.
Symptoms of methanol poisoning include fatigue, headaches, nausea, and vision problems such as blindness, blurred or snowfield vision, changes in colour perception, difficulty looking at bright lights, dilated pupils, flashes of light and tunnel vision.
– with Chantelle Francis
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