Bethany Clarke has warned of the dangers of drinking cheap alcohol after watching her childhood best friend die in agony during their backpacking adventure in Laos
A heartbroken British woman has spoken about the tragic death of her best friend, and issued a desperate warning about the dangers of drinking cheap – or free – alcohol.
Bethany Clarke and Simone White travelled to Laos last November for a globetrotting adventure. Tragically, Simone never made it home. She was one of six people who died after drinking free shots at Nana Backpackers Hostel in the town of Vang Vieng, north of the capital Vientiane.
It was later discovered that she had an ‘astronomical’ level of methanol in her system. Methanol is a highly toxic, industrial chemical better known for use in solvents, and is very similar to ethanol – the pure form of alcohol in alcoholic drinks. It is odourless, tasteless, cheap and can occur as a by-product in home-brewed alcohol. It is also sometimes added to bootleg drinks to make them stronger.
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It can also be fatal. Once consumed, enzymes in the body metabolise methanol into formaldehyde, the same product used in embalming, before breaking it down again into compounds which can cause organ failure, attack nerves and lead to blindness, brain damage and death.
By her own admission, Bethany had no idea it was so dangerous. “We didn’t know that we were taking such a gamble with our lives,” she told the Daily Mail. “Obviously, if someone had said to me, ‘there is a possibility that this drink could lead to blindness or coma or death’, I wouldn’t have drunk it.”
Recalling how she, Simone and another friend David stopped by Nana’s for their 8-10pm happy hour – where the drinks (vodka or whisky) were not just cut-price, but free – Bethany noticed nothing unusual, and actually assumed the drinks had been watered down. They drank their vodka shots with Sprite bought from their hostel.
The first indication that something was wrong came the next morning when they awoke feeling something like a hangover, but different. “Not quite fatigued, but a bit weak. I use the phrase ‘cognitive decline’ a lot, but basically I mean not thinking straight,” Bethany shared. “But when all three of you feel the same, you’re not too concerned, you think it will wear off.”
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As the day progressed, the girls had no appetite, and felt a complete loss of strength in their muscles. Simone was also vomiting, while Bethany fainted when she tried to help her friend.
It was David who took control and managed to get them admitted to hospital where staff initially suspected food poisoning, or drugs. They were then taken to a private hospital via ambulance, at which time David researched their symptoms on his phone.
“I remember him saying in the ambulance, do you think it could be methanol poisoning? They said ‘yes’, it could be, we’ve seen it before.” Bethany recalled.
“But at that point, I suppose because we had all drunk the same, we’d all done the same things… I knew whatever it was, we’d all consumed it. I thought everything would be OK.”
Tragically, it wasn’t. At the hospital, tests confirmed their worst fears – with further confirmation coming when two other pairs of friends, who had drunk shots at the same hostel, on the same night, arrived at the hospital.
Five days after those happy hour drinks, a CT scan revealed Simone’s brain power was crashingly low; and the following morning it had dropped again. Her mother had to make the agonising 17-hour flight to be at her daughter’s side – and was the one to eventually switch off the ventilator.
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Understandably, the incident continues to haunt Bethany – and she is on a mission to make sure no other traveller loses a life to a cheap shot. She has launched a government petition calling for the dangers of bootleg alcohol to be taught in the personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) or biology curriculum. ‘Steer clear, drink beer,’ is the campaign’s slogan. Or buy a bottle from Duty Free on the way out.
An investigation into what unfolded in Laos is understood to be ongoing. No charges have been brought. In an interview with a US TV channel last November, Nana Backpackers Hostel owner Duong van Huan denied the poisoned drinks came from his bar and said he had been in business for almost 11 years, and it was the first time something like this had happened.
“I really take care of all the customers [who] stay with our hotel and our hostel,” he said.