Blow to families after staff who served methanol laced drinks that killed Brit lawyer & 5 other backpackers in Laos FLEE

Scottish Sun

30-05-2025

The shocking twist comes after six months without any charges being made following the horrific poisoning
POISON FURY Blow to families after staff who served methanol laced drinks that killed Brit lawyer & 5 other backpackers in Laos FLEE
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STAFF members who served a Brit backpacker and five other tourists deadly drinks laced with poison in Laos have sparked outrage by fleeing the country.
The cruel twist came after Brit lawyer Simone White, 28, and five others died after consuming methanol-spiked vodka shots at the party hotspot last year.
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Staff members who served Brit Simone White and five other poison-laced alcohol have fled the country
Credit: PA
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The Nana Backpacker Hostel, in Vang Vieng, Laos, where six backpackers died after drinking tainted alcohol laced with methanol
Credit: Enterprise
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Duong Duc Toan, the manager of Nana Backpackers hostel where the victims were staying
According to the Herald Sun, at least two employees who were "detained" following the horrific ordeal have now fled Laos to neighbouring Vietnam.
Tragic Simone was among five other backpackers who also lost their lives after drinking the same fatal beverages.
Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles, both 19 and from Australia, as well as two young women from Denmark, Danes Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20, and Freja Vennervald Sorensen, 21, and American man James Louis Hutson, 57, were also killed.
All of them were staying at the hostel along with 100 more guests.
After hearing that two of the suspects had fled Laos, Bianca's dad told the Herald Sun: "We want the Australian Government to apply as much pressure as they can to bring justice to all those involved in the methanol poisoning of our girls, the Danish girl and the British girl in Laos."
The group died after they consumed vodka and whiskey laced with deadly methanol at the Nana Backpackers hostel in the town of Vang Vieng last November.
Simone was among the victims after she was rushed to hospital in a near paralytic state before being placed on life support for three days.
Her mum Sue took a hellish 16-hour journey from Kent to Laos after hearing of her daughter's grave condition.
She said she feared Simone would die after being called by the hospital who told her she needed emergency brain surgery.
After arriving at Laos hospital Sue was given the devastating ultimatum over whether to leave her daughter on life support or not.
Brit lawyer Simone White, 28, dies in 'methanol-laced alcohol poisoning' that left 4 others dead in backpacking hotspot
Doctors refused to switch off the machine due to their religion - but told Sue she could do it herself.
The distraught mum said she had to take a tube out of her dying daughter's mouth before making the incredibly painful and "traumatic" decision to switch off the machine.
Simone's official cause of death was confirmed as a bleed on the brain, an inquest heard.
No charges have been made six months after the fatal ordeal, despite Laotian authorities reportedly preparing charges for up to 13 people.
The 13 suspects have been accused of violating food and health security, unlawful business operations and the elimination of evidence, according to the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs.
It comes just weeks after the families of Bianca and Holly, who died from suspected methanol poisoning, slammed cops over "appalling" charges.
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Laos methanol poison victim, Simone White, with her mum Sue
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Sue revealed her daughter's final message in an interview alongside Simone's friend Bethany Clarke
Credit: 60 Minutes Australia
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The two teens tragically died just days after the shocking incident.
Holly's mother told 60 Minutes: "[The charges are] pretty appalling, I'd say pretty insulting.'
Bianca's furious mum added: 'I think we're pretty furious about it … Food and beverage.
"You know, that's like? What is that? We don't even know."
The parents also said they had written to Laos Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone 'a million times'.
The desperate parents claimed to have even contacted his wife, but still say they have not received a response.
Why is methanol so deadly?
By Sam Blanchard, Health Correspondent
METHANOL is a super-toxic version of alcohol that may be present in drinks if added by crooks to make them stronger or if they are brewed or distilled badly.
The consequences can be devastating because as little as a single shot of contaminated booze could be deadly, with just 4ml of methanol potentially enough to cause blindness.
Prof Oliver Jones, a chemist at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, said: 'The body converts methanol to formic acid.
'Formic acid blocks the action of an enzyme that is critical to how the body uses oxygen to generate energy.
'If it stops working, cells cannot take up or use oxygen from the blood and lack of oxygen causes problems in a range of organs as the cells start to die.
'Symptoms of methanol poisoning include vomiting, seizures and dizziness.
'The optic nerve seems to be particularly vulnerable to methanol toxicity, so there is the potential for temporary or permanent blindness, and even death.
'While thankfully rare, methanol poisoning is very serious, and treatment should be given at a hospital.'
An unexpected but key way of treating methanol poisoning is to get the patient drunk with normal alcohol - known as ethanol - to distract the liver and stop it processing the methanol.