Free booze killed our pal & sister… people are bottling this poison for tourists and we need to flag the warning signs
LIFTING her drink, Bethany Clarke clinked glasses with her best friend Simone White and they each took a swig.
The vodka and lemonade, which the girls had been given for free at Nana Backpacker Hostel in Vang Vieng, Laos, tasted weak, but they assumed it had been watered down.
The childhood friends, from Orpington, Kent, enjoyed five more freebie drinks during the hostel’s happy hour, blissfully unaware that within 24 hours, they would both be critically ill.
Nine days later, on November 21 last year, 28-year-old Simone died in hospital. She was one of six tourists to lose their lives following a methanol poisoning.
“It’s hard to put into words how horrendous it was,” says Bethany, a podiatrist who now lives in Brisbane. “It was the worst period of my life. I could not understand how we’d gone from having a few drinks in a bar together, to this."
The morning after, we all felt fine. It just seemed like a bad hangover
Bethany Clarke
Along with Simone, Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones, both 19 and from Australia, Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20, and Freja Vennervald Sorensen, 21, from Denmark, and American James Louis Hutson, 57, also lost their lives.
This shocking case is just one of a number of methanol poisoning incidents in popular backpacker destinations, such as Indonesia, Laos and Vietnam, in recent months.
The issue mainly affects poorer countries, where law enforcement is under-resourced and there are few regulations around food and alcohol standards.
In Southeast Asia, there is also an industry of home-brewed alcohol, which can lead to accidental poisonings.
Experts have warned that the true scope of the problem is unknown. Fiona Chuah, methanol poisoning initiative team lead at Doctors Without Borders, says: “Without a comprehensive national and international surveillance and reporting system, the prevalence is likely under reported.
“Many cases go unrecognised, because symptoms – which often appear 12 to 24 hours after ingestion – such as headache, nausea, dizziness and visual disturbances, are often mistaken for hangovers, food poisoning or other illnesses, and this then delays critical treatment.”
Bethany and Simone met at primary school and had previously travelled together to countries including Thailand and China, before planning their two-and-a-half-week trip for November 2024.
They met up in Phnom Penh in Cambodia, before arriving in Vang Vieng in Laos on November 11.
They spent the next day “tubing” – a bar crawl using inflatables along a river – before joining a friend, Daniel*, for free vodka shots at the hostel, which they mixed with Sprite.
“There was a nice vibe,” Bethany recalls.
“We had been drinking in random bars in places like Bali and Thailand before and not seen it as a risk.”
I was drifting in and out of consciousness, but also trying to advocate for Simone and keep an eye on all our possessions
Bethany Clarke
After around two hours, the trio left, feeling “not particularly drunk”.
The next morning, they joined a kayaking excursion.
“We all felt a bit off, but fine,” Bethany says.
“It just seemed like a bad hangover.”
That night, the trio boarded a minibus to make the two-hour journey to Laos’ capital, Vientiane, during which Simone was sick and Bethany fainted.
The driver dropped them at a public hospital, where medics wrongly suspected food poisoning or drug use and gave them IV fluids via a drip.
Soon after, Simone’s condition worsened.
The group were transferred to a private hospital where, at around 11.30pm – 26 hours after drinking the shots – tests showed methanol poisoning.
“I was drifting in and out of consciousness, but also trying to advocate for Simone and keep an eye on all our possessions,” Bethany recalls.
“I still hoped it would all be OK.
“I even thought we might be able to carry on with the holiday.”
The next day, Bethany and Daniel, whose condition had stabilised, were moved to another ward and told that Simone was sedated but also improving.
Bethany contacted her friend’s mum Sue, 61, and explained Simone was feeling a bit better.
In the meantime, Bethany’s worried family offered to travel out to be with her, but she refused.
“I had no idea how long we would be in hospital, or that Simone wouldn’t survive,” she says.
I wondered if it had been me who had picked up the ‘bad’ drinks and given them to Simone
Bethany Clarke
Later, as Sue was preparing to fly 16 hours from the UK, Bethany had to contact her again, as Simone had deteriorated and needed consent for brain surgery.
Sue arrived in Laos just ahead of the operation, but sadly it was unsuccessful. Six days later, her life support was switched off.
“I was in denial. None of us could believe what had happened,” says Bethany, who flew back to the UK with Sue and Daniel that same evening.
Simone was repatriated days later, and her funeral was held in December.
“Afterwards, I had to keep talking about what had happened as I tried to understand it. I wondered if it had been me who had picked up the ‘bad’ drinks and given them to Simone,” says Bethany.
“I’m smaller than her and I have epilepsy, so how did I come out of it OK?
“It was a lot for my family to cope with, too.
“For them, I nearly died as well.”
DEADLY HOMEBREW
Methanol can affect people differently, depending on the mix of the drink and how an individual metabolises it, explains Dr Knut Erik Hovda, technical consultant at the Methanol Poisoning Institute (MPi), a Doctors Without Borders initiative.
“It is not the methanol itself that is toxic, but the metabolite – the end product. Depending on the exact amount of methanol in the drink, as well as how much regular alcohol – which acts as an antidote – is present, people may respond differently,” he says.
After news of the first two deaths – those of Bianca and Australian Holly Bowles – broke, the manager of Nana Backpacker Hostel, Duong Duc Toan, confirmed the girls had drunk free shots there, but denied that his vodka made them sick, insisting it was bought from legitimate sellers.
Eight staff members were arrested in November, and as of last month, the hostel remains closed. The investigation is ongoing, and no charges have been reported.
The mass deaths, which attracted global headlines, brought back painful memories for Measha Rudge, whose sister Cheznye Emmons, 23, died in Indonesia in 2013 in similar circumstances.
'So many have died'
Measha, 38, has been raising awareness about the dangers of counterfeit alcohol through her Save A Life campaign in memory of beautician Cheznye.
“It’s heartbreaking that so many have died since Chez,” says Measha, a teacher from Shoebury, Essex.
Cheznye was on a six-month trip around Southeast Asia with boyfriend Joe Cook when she drank shop-bought “gin” – which came in a sealed bottle – in Sumatra.
After she became sick and lost her vision, medics diagnosed her with methanol poisoning and put her in an induced coma, but she passed away five days later.
“It was horrendous,” Measha says.
“Chez was my best friend.
“She always had a smile on her face, always tried to make people happy.”
It was horrendous, Chez was my best friend. She always had a smile on her face, always tried to make people happy
Measha Rudge
In late 2013, Measha’s dad Brenton travelled to Sumatra with the BBC’s Fake Britain and discovered that shops were still selling bootleg gin at a low cost.
“In Indonesia, the alcohol tax is really high, so some locals brew it themselves,” Measha says.
“You would believe the packaging is real and it’s not.
“People are just bottling up this crap, and nobody is ever held to account.”
In the aftermath of Cheznye’s death, Measha and her family liaised with the UK government about an awareness campaign.
They produced posters to be shared in NHS clinics for people getting vaccinations before travelling to Southeast Asia, and had warnings added to the FCDO website for countries where consuming counterfeit alcohol is a risk.
Counterfeit cocktails
But over the years, interest has waned.
Measha says most clinics declined to display the posters, and warnings are not prominent enough for tourists.
“You have young people fresh out of school or university who are going to go to Southeast Asia to enjoy themselves. And none of them are thinking they shouldn’t take free or cheap drinks. We need to make the risks clear.”
This was the case for Ashley King, who was 18 when she went blind after drinking a counterfeit cocktail during a night out in Kuta, Bali, in March 2011.
She began feeling “disoriented and nauseous” the following evening, after taking a flight to New Zealand and arriving at her hostel in Christchurch.
The next morning, she noticed the lighting was “dim” in her room and, soon after, she found herself struggling to breathe.
“Someone from the hostel took me to a clinic. By the time I arrived, I couldn’t see the nurse’s fingers,” Ashley, now 32, remembers.
She was rushed to hospital, where tests showed she had methanol poisoning.
“They told my family to get on the first flight out, because they thought I might not make it,” she says.
In denial
Ashley awoke the next day in ICU and, two days later, she was moved to a regular ward, but still couldn’t see.
A few days later, doctors confirmed her optic nerves were dying and her eyesight would not return.
“I started crying,” she recalls.
“I thought my life was over, that I’d never have a career, fall in love or go to university.”
Medics asked if she wanted to file a police report, but she declined, thinking there was no point – a decision she now regrets.
She was treated in New Zealand for a month before returning to her home in Calgary, Canada.
“I would lie to friends and say I was getting my eyesight back,” she says.
“I refused to use a cane and hated asking for help.
“I was angry, sad and resentful.”
Prevention not treatment
She spent three years “in denial”, before deciding at 21 to study journalism at university and, later, acting.
She eventually landed a job in theatre admin, then won a grant to develop a play about her experience called Static: A Party Girl’s Memoir, which she performed last year at a theatre in Calgary.
She has now adapted the show into a podcast.
“Methanol poisoning was the most traumatic thing that’s happened to me, but I’m proud I’ve been able to reclaim the narrative,” she says.
Ashley had hoped to be “an anomaly” and is horrified by the recent surge in methanol poisoning incidents.
Other cases have included Brit Greta Marie Otteson, 33, and her South African fiancé Els Arno Quinton, 36, who were found dead in Hoi An, Vietnam, on Boxing Day last year after allegedly drinking methanol-laced limoncello.
Likewise, in January, 33 people died and another 43 were hospitalised after methanol poisoning at a holiday hot spot in Istanbul, Turkey. Four people have been arrested.
Since methanol can’t be detected by sight, smell or taste, Doctors Without Borders’ Fiona Chuah recommends avoiding any home-made alcoholic drinks or those from questionable sources.
“Purchase alcohol from licensed stores, bars and hotels, or other reputable sources, and stick to well-known brands,” she says.
“Always check seals are intact and inspect labels for poor print quality or incorrect spelling.
“Exceptionally low prices can be a red flag.”
Four months on from Simone’s death, Bethany says she is not holding out hope for justice for her friend.
“I don’t have much faith, as the communication from authorities has been poor,” she says.
Instead, she is determined to educate others about the dangers of counterfeit alcohol, and has launched a petition calling for the issue to be included in the school curriculum.
“’Steer clear, drink beer’ is the message that we’re pushing – fake spirits can look very convincing in some of the countries where methanol poisoning is a problem,” Bethany explains.
“We need to focus on prevention, rather than treatment.
“I’ve lost the most important person in my life to methanol poisoning.
“All we can do for her now is to raise awareness and try to save others.”
Sign the petition to put the dangers of methanol poisoning on the school curriculum at Petition.parliament.uk/petitions/716935.