A heartbroken mother has shared the ‘nightmare’ 16-hour journey she took to be by the bedside of her daughter, who had been poisoned by methanol at a hostel in Laos, before having to switch off her life support.
Sue White took two flights to be with her daughter Simone White, one of the six foreign tourists who died of methanol poisoning while staying at Nana Backpackers Hostel in Vang Vieng, Laos.
The body of the 28-year-old solicitor, who lived in southeast London, will be repatriated to the UK this weekend ahead of a funeral.
Just nine days after Simone and her friends drank vodka shots served in the hostel, Mrs White turned off her ventilator at a private hospital in Laos on November 21.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, Mrs White has said she wants to warn people planning to travel about being cautious around what they drink.
‘Please be careful when it comes to drinks’, she said. ‘Simone was a university-educated, highly intelligent person. If it can happen to her, it can happen to anybody’.
The 61-year-old told the newspaper of the ‘horrendous’ flight she had to endure from the UK to Bangkok, Thailand, before which she had been told her daughter needed ‘urgent brain surgery’ for which she had to give consent.
‘I had to go through the whole flight thinking she was going through brain surgery’, she said. ‘It was a terrible, terrible journey’.
And when she finally arrived at the hospital, Simone was being wheeled from the intensive care unit into theatre, which Mrs White said was ‘horrendous’.
‘It was the worst experience of my life’, she said. ‘There are no words, really’.
The body of the 28-year-old solicitor, who lived in southeast London , will be repatriated to the UK this weekend ahead of a funeral
Sue White took two flights to be with her daughter Simone, one of the six foreign tourists who died of methanol poisoning while staying at Nana Backpackers Hostel in Vang Vieng, Laos.
Early testing indicated methanol was present in beer and spirits served at the Nana Backpacker Hostel (pictured)
Simone had checked into the Nana Backpackers Hostel on November 11, where she was staying with friends. Mrs White said the group booked the hostel as it had five-star reviews.
She said the group went out on their second night of their trip, during which time they drank six shots.
‘They all felt fine’, Mrs White said. ‘They didn’t taste or smell anything out of the ordinary with the drinks’.
But when they checked out of the hostel the next day, all three had a headache, which they attributed to drinking the previous night, but they all began getting increasingly unwell as the day went on.
They headed to a public hospital where they were diagnosed with food poisoning. Later that day, the group hired a chauffeur-driven minibus to take them from the local hospital, where staff wanted to know if their treatment would be covered under health insurance, to the private Kasemrad International Hospital.
Mrs White received a message from one of Simone’s friends the following day informing her they were in hospital and had suspected acidosis, a condition where there is a build up of acid in the body’s fluids. The message read that Simone was ‘the worst affected’ out of the group.
Mrs White said she was not ‘unduly’ worried at first but then the methanol poisoning began to impact Simone’s brain.
‘She was getting quite distressed, refusing treatment and pulling out the cannula’, Mrs White said.
The town is a popular spot for young backpackers, especially those on a gap year or in their early 20s
It comes after multiple staff from the hostel have been arrested by police
The following day, Simone’s friend contacted Mrs White and advised her to get to the hospital. She arrived on Sunday morning, just as Simone was taken in for an operation, delayed until then as she needed blood transfusions.
Simone died on November 21.
‘It was so unfortunate’, Mrs White said. ‘It just affected Simone so much more than the other two. The doctor was saying it was how people’s metabolisms can break down methanol differently and unfortunately it has just gone straight to Simone’s brain’.
‘She had everything going for her’, she added. ‘She had crammed so much into her life. She wasn’t a novice going to a new country.
‘That’s our only consolation, really: that at least she died doing something she loved’.
It comes after multiple staff from the hostel have been arrested by police.
Eight men aged 23-47, are in custody following arrests by police on Monday, a local news site reported.
All of those detained by Vang Vieng police are believed to be Vietnamese nationals.
Melbourne teenagers Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles, both aged 19, were among six foreign tourists who died last week after falling ill while staying at the hostel.
The best friends were evacuated to separate hospitals in Thailand on November 13.
Melbourne teenager Bianca Jones (pictured) died after a suspected mass methanol poisoning in Laos
Eight staff from the Nana Backpacker Hostel, where Melbourne teenager Holly Bowles (above) died after drinking a contaminated beverage, were arrested on Monday
Ms Jones died surrounded by loved ones in Udon Thani hospital last Thursday before Ms Bowles died in nearby Bangkok Hospital the next day.
Their bodies were onboard a repatriation flight home to Australia on Tuesday night, with their parents also on the same flight.
Two Danish women Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20, and Frela Vennervald Sorensen, 21, and US man James Louis Hutson, 57, also died from after drinking contaminated drinks.
Local reports suggest another 12 foreign tourists were hospitalised after drinking at the Nana Backpacker Hostel.
Early testing indicated methanol was present in beer and spirits at the venue.
It’s understood some guests staying there were given free shots at the hostel bar on November 11, before a number of backpackers, including Bowles and Jones, continued onto other bars before falling ill the following day.
Nana Backpackers has since been shut down while the investigation into the deaths continues.
Those arrested included a ‘Mr Yeungvanhoun, 34, Mr Hongieng Manhoung, 38, Mr Bouyvandat 35, Mr Jikkauk, 23, Mr Yeungduktoun 47, Mr Hngiengsuieng, 28, Guang Chung 44, along with an eighth man, 42, Lao Phatthana News reported.
Those arrested included general staff and managers.
There is no suggestion that those detained are responsible for the tourists’ deaths.
Despite six deaths being linked to methanol poisoning, police only referred to three deaths in their official statement.
The report did not include the Australian teenagers or the British victim Ms White.
‘The initial cause of the death of the number of tourists is expected because of drinking poisonous drinks and other problems caused three deaths,’ the report said.
‘Investigation Unit is still in the process of co-ordinating with ministries, departments, agencies and relevant stakeholders to collect data and collect samples to find out unidentified information on deaths of foreign tourists this time to be clarified quickly on the basis of inspection, verifying the results of scientific research.’