My best friend died drinking bootleg alcohol – people need to know the risks
The devastated best friend of a Londoner who died from methanol poisoning has set up a petition urging for the dangers of bootleg booze to be taught to pupils.
Bethany Clarke was on a night out with Simone White when they drank six shots at a bar in Laos last November.
The night was typical on the backpacker trail, with free booze flowing as travellers let off steam on what would have been a holiday of a lifetime.
But the next day, they both became unwell on a kayaking excursion and were hospitalised with an initial diagnosis of food poisoning.
Their conditions deteriorated rapidly and they became weak and unable to properly take account of their surroundings.
Tragically Simone, 28, who was from Bromley in south east London, died while Bethany slowly and painfully recovered.
Five other people also died after also drinking at the bar in Vang Vieng, a town popular with tourists just an hour north of the capital Vientiane, on the same night as the British friends.
The police in Laos are still investigating the multiple deaths but with methanol poisoning being accepted as the cause.
Bethany is now channelling her energies into fighting for more awareness of the dangers of methanol, which can be used as an industrially produced additive to make alcohol cheaper to produce.
Depending on the dose, methanol can be highly dangerous and in some cases fatal to humans.
Her petition to the government calls for ‘the dangers of methanol poisoning to be put on the school curriculum’.
It adds the substance could be mentioned in either PHSE classes or biology.
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Bethany, 28, told Metro: ‘I don’t want what happened to my best friend to happened to anyone else no other families should have to suffer like this.
‘Simone was the most sensible person you could meet, she was a lawyer, very intelligent and not someone to take risks. If this could happen to her it could happen to anyone.
‘It’s devastating. I was very very ill myself we were in a terrible situation and we were powerless. What we had drunk was from a glass vodka bottle with a label – there were no alarm bells.
‘I remember we were on the kayaks the next day and I could not really move my arms. Then we both starting feeling violently ill. It was terrible.
What is Methanol?
Methanol is a type of alcohol commonly used in industrial products like antifreeze, fuel, and cleaning solvents. It is not safe for human consumption, but it is sometimes found in bootleg or homemade alcohol because it is cheap and widely available.
During the illegal production of alcohol, methanol can accidentally contaminate the product due to improper fermentation or distillation. It is also sometimes added intentionally to increase the alcohol content without using more expensive ethanol.
When consumed, methanol is highly toxic. The body breaks it down into formaldehyde and formic acid, which are poisonous. These substances can cause serious harm, including damage to the optic nerve, leading to blindness, as well as metabolic acidosis, which disrupts the body’s pH balance.
High levels of methanol in the body can cause confusion, seizures, organ failure, and even death. Even small amounts can be deadly if not treated quickly. This makes methanol-laced bootleg alcohol extremely dangerous.
‘We were taken to hospital and diagnosed initially with food poisoning. Simone was very bad and I was struggling to come to terms with what was going on.
‘There was a hospital transfer and we had to sign some papers over health insurance. I could barely focus. Simone just got worse and there was nothing I could do.
‘It’s very hard to come to terms with losing your best friend in this way. That’s why I’m doing this petition. If we start educating people now maybe in ten years when they are travelling they will have the information they need to make informed choices.
‘We think there are more cases than are reported to the police and a lot of this is swept under the carpet. This is not acceptable.’
The petition has almost 1,800 signatures and requires 10,000 to trigger a government response to the issue.
A petition with 100,000 signatures would force Parliament to consider a debate the issue.
Bethany, who despite being severely ill had to phone her friend’s parents to get their consent for brain surgery on their daughter, continued: ‘We want the government to listen then we need action.
‘I have lost my best friend. I have a kind of survivor’s guilt. I have to try to get people to take notice of this threat. It’s about giving people all the information. It’s not saying don’t do this or that is just pointing out the potential problems.’
Bethany’s memories of Simone
Simone and I met at primary school – I was 4 and she was 5. She was so grown up for her years which I think is what drew me to her.
She was always smiling and always made everyone feel like they were the most important person in the room. We just clicked. There were no topics “off limits” and we were always straight with each other.
No phone call was too late and there were always an abundance of voice notes to wake up to.
We met as often as we could and eventually lived together in London in 2023 which I will always have fond memories of. We travelled as much as we could all over the globe. Our longest trip was 6 weeks backpacking south east Asia when we were 20. It was the kind of holiday you never forget and I am glad to have taken as many photographs as I did.
Sometimes I randomly remember that I don’t have a best friend anymore and our last exchange appears as a blurred image in my mind. The moment when I think she knew something was wrong, she said “I’ll do whatever you do (Biff)”, which is what she called me. I just wish I’d have been able to make it all better but back then, I didn’t know what I know now.
Two Danish women, aged 20 and 21, and two Australians, both 19, died. A man from the US, aged 57, was the sixth victim.
The government in Laos launched an investigation into the incident. It has banned the sale of Tiger Vodka and Tiger Whisky.
A number of arrests were made including of the owner of the factory producing these brands.
Paying tribute to Simone after her death her family said: ‘We are devastated by the loss of our beautiful, kind, loving daughter.
‘Simone was one of a kind and had the most wonderful energy and spark for life. She was a soul who gave so much to so many and was loved by her family, friends and colleagues.’
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