The heartbroken mother of British barrister Simone White has revealed her harrowing journey to see her dying daughter after she was killed by drinking methanol.
Simone, 28, along with five other young backpackers died just hours after drinking free vodkas in party hub Laos.
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Sue White, right, took two flights to Laos to be with her dying daughter
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Simone White, 28, a solicitor from Orpington, Kent, died after drinking a drink suspected to have been laced with methanol
A British barrister from Kent was on a trip to Laos where she and her childhood friends drank glasses allegedly contaminated with methanol before becoming critically ill.
The toxic chemical is sometimes used as a cheaper alternative to ethanol, but it can cause serious poisoning or death.
Simone’s heartbroken mum Sue White revealed she jumped on a plane as soon as she got the call that her daughter was in a critical condition – and was fighting to survive.
A distraught mum has told of her hellish 16-hour journey from the UK to Laos, which she embarked on knowing her daughter was going to die.
read more about the tragic case
She told The Sunday Times: “Call it motherly intuition, but I knew she was going to die when I got that phone call.”
Describing the harrowing journey, Mrs White said: “It was the worst experience of my life.
“I had to go through the whole flight thinking she was having brain surgery. It was a horrible, horrible journey.”
The mom also revealed the moment when she saw her daughter unconscious while she was coming to the hospital.
“She had such beautiful long blonde hair, which was all shaved off for the surgery. It was the worst experience of my life,” she added.
Simone was staying in backpacking hotspot Vang Vieng where five other tourists also died of suspected alcohol poisoning.
The lawyer and about 100 other guests at the Nana Backpackers hostel in the city were given free shots made with local Tiger vodka, as a gesture of hospitality.
A doctor who tried to save a ‘methanol injection’ victim from Laos reveals the terrifying speed of the poisoning tragedy
But it’s not clear whether the allegedly methanol-laced drinks were consumed there – or exactly how many sick tourists remain in hospital.
There were also reports of possible poisoning victims from other places in the area where Tiger Vodka was served.
Simone and her friends soon went to the hospital where they were initially diagnosed with food poisoning.
It was only hours later that the British lawyer was told that the group was suffering from possible acidosis – a medical condition in which acid builds up rapidly in body fluids.
Simone was told she was “the worst hit”. She died on November 21.
Simone’s friend Bethany Clarke – who is unwell in hospital – first raised the alarm on the Laos Backpacking Facebook group.
She wrote: “Urgent — avoid all local liquor. Our group stayed in Vang Vieng and drank the free drinks offered by one of the bars.
“Just avoid them because it’s not worth it. The six of us who drank in the same place are currently in the hospital with methanol poisoning.”
Danish friends Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20, and Freja Vennervald, 21, died after vomiting blood for 13 hours.
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Australian tourist Bianca Jones died after visiting Vang Vieng with her friend Holly Bowles
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Danish victim Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20, also drank alcohol believed to have been mixed with methanol
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Her friend Freja Vennervald Sorensen (21) also died after traveling to Laos
A witness who tried to help the couple reportedly told their grieving friend, who is collecting key testimonies in Vang Vieng, what happened before they died, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
The testimony claimed that the staff refused to call 911 and the worker massaged the toes and feet of one of the Danes while she was having a seizure.
Eight employees of the Nana Backpacker Hostel in Vang Vieng were detained on Monday after workers allegedly refused to call an ambulance for dying guests.
The manager and bartender at the Duong Duc Toan hostel were investigated by local police last week and detained after several tourists were hospitalized.
He previously denied that any drink served there could make tourists sick.
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Health officials leave Nana Backpackers hostel after questioning staff
Australian friends Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles, both 19, also died after suspected mass methanol poisoning.
Teenagers from Melbourne also stayed at the Nana Backpacker hostel.
The alarm was raised by staff after the teenagers failed to sign out on the morning of November 13.
Bianca and Holly were rushed to different hospitals in Bangkok, Thailand as their families traveled to be with them.
Bianca tragically died on Thursday, while Holly died just a day later.
Holly’s dad Shaun told Nine News: “We are heartbroken and very sad to say our beautiful little girl Holly is now at peace.
“We find comfort and solace in knowing that Holly brought so much joy and happiness to so many people.”
American James Louis Hutson (57) also died.
The government of Laos has finally spoken out about the tragedy and promised to “bring the perpetrators to justice”.
They added: “The government of the Lao PDR reaffirms that it always attaches importance and pays attention to the safety of domestic and foreign tourists.”
It is not yet known how these drinks could have been spiked, but some locals have revealed how a factory error could have led to the disaster, The Sun reported.
Anonymous sources said Tiger vodka, which sells for 36 pence a bottle, was made at a site owned by the communist government of Laos, the Sun Herald reported.
The source said: “Everything is owned by the government, or at least 90 percent owned by the state.
“This could have been a mistake made at a state-owned factory, that’s a possible reason why it happened.”
Some people wondered why an already cheap drink could be spiked with something cheaper and more toxic like methanol.
Why is methanol so deadly?
METHANOL is a super-toxic version of alcohol that can be present in drinks if they are added by fraudsters to make them stronger or if they are poorly brewed or distilled, writes The Sun’s health correspondent Sam Blanchard.
The consequences can be devastating, as just one glass of contaminated drink can be fatal, and as little as 4 ml of methanol is potentially enough to cause blindness.
Professor Oliver Jones, a chemist at the Royal Institute of Technology in Melbourne, said: “The body converts methanol into formic acid.
“Formic acid blocks the action of an enzyme that is key to the way the body uses oxygen to create energy.
“If it stops working, the cells cannot take up or use oxygen from the blood, and the lack of oxygen causes problems in a number of organs because the cells begin to die.
“Symptoms of methanol poisoning include vomiting, seizures and dizziness.
“The optic nerve appears to be particularly sensitive to methanol toxicity, so there is the possibility of temporary or permanent blindness and even death.
“Although fortunately rare, methanol poisoning is very serious and should be treated in hospital.”
An unexpected but key treatment for methanol poisoning is to get the patient drunk with normal alcohol – known as ethanol – to distract the liver and stop the processing of methanol.
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Duong Duc Toan, manager of the Nana Backpack Hostel in Vang Vieng, Laos, shows off a bottle of Tiger Vodka
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