Father of Holly Morton-Bowles recalls moment he knew she would die

The father of an Australian teen who died of methanol poisoning in Laos has said her passing has been “horrendous” and he wants the culprits punished.

The father of one of the two Australian teens who died following a suspected methanol poisoning in Laos has recalled how he was in “disbelief” when he was told his daughter would die.

Shaun Bowles, the father of Holly Morton-Bowles, appeared to tear up several times as he spoke to the UK’s BBC Radio 4 on itsToday breakfast program on Wednesday morning.

Ms Morton-Bowles passed away in a Bangkok hospital on November 22 after consuming a drink allegedly laced with methanol during a night out in Laos with best friend Ms Jones. They were both 19.

The pair were backpacking through Thailand and Laos.

They were staying in Nana Backpackers Hostel in the tourist town of Vang Vieng when the alleged mass drink-spiking incident occurred.

Ms Morton-Bowles and Ms Jones died alongside four other victims.

“It’s horrible. What we’re going through at the moment, it’s something that you wouldn’t wish upon anybody. It’s just horrendous,” Mr Bowles told the BBC.

“When you lose your daughter at such a young age, I don’t think there’s anything worse.”

Ms Morton-Bowles was farewelled at a funeral in Melbourne earlier this month.

“On the day (of the funeral) we were able to draw a bit of strength. (But) once you’re back home everything comes flooding back pretty quickly”.

Holly Morton-Bowles died in Thailand. Picture: Supplied by family

She had been backpacking through South-East Asia. Picture: Facebook

‘They were having a blast’

Mr Bowles said his daughter would talk to his wife Sam “every third day, if not every day” when she was travelling.

“They were having an unbelievable time. Having so much fun and doing what two 19 year old girls should be doing.

“They were just having an absolute blast.

“They were doing what hundreds of thousands of other travellers have done.

“I’ve done it. I was in Thailand with, with Bianca’s father (Mark Jones), 25 years ago,” he added.

And then he received a call from a friend of his daughters, who in turn had been contacted by a backpacker who was travelling with the pair, who revealed the pair were in hospital.

The two teens’ mums got on a plane “that night,” he said, followed by the dads and other family members the next day. By this point the teens has been moved from Laos to a major hospital in Udon Thani in Thailand’s north east.

Holly Morton- Bowles’ dad Shaun Bowles said he was in “disbelief”. Credit: 7NEWS

‘Disbelief is the only word’

“There was so much going on. When you’re getting second hand information it was really hard to process exactly what sort of condition that they were in.

“We were told a lot of things, but it wasn’t until they started doing blood tests and all the rest that we were aware (it was methanol poisoning).”

It soon became clear that Mr Bowles’ daughter was in a dire condition.

“When you hear your daughter is not going to pull through, I think disbelief is the only word to describe what was happening to us.

Shaun and Samantha Bowles at the funeral of Holly Morton-Bowles. Picture: 7News

“She was just full of life. She was confident, she was loving. She was a true friend of people. She was everything you want your daughter to be” he said of Holly.

Mr Bowles said the fact that he and Mr Jones had backpacked on the same route as their daughters was in some ways “bizarre,” but it also helped them both.

“Just talking helps me get through the days”.

Bianca Jones also died in the alleged poisoning incident. Picture: Supplied

The Bowles and Jones families have set up a GoFundMe fundraising page to raise money.

The aims are to pay for the families’ expenses to bring Holly and Bianca home, contribute to existing organisations combating methanol poisoning and fund awareness campaigns about the dangers of menthol.

“We absolutely want whoever is responsible for this brought to account and brought to justice,” said Mr Bowles.

“And we’re going to do everything that we can to make sure that is the case, because someone somewhere has done the wrong thing”.

The four other tourists that died in the alleged drink-spiking incident were Briton Simon White, 28, US man James Louis Huston, 57, and two Danish women, Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20 and Frela Vennervald Sorensen, 21.