Football president chokes back tears in emotional message about Bianca Jones, who died from methanol cocktail poisoning

Beaumaris Football Club president Nick Heath has choked back tears as he remembered young player Bianca Jones, who died after suffering methanol poisoning from a cocktail in Laos.

On Thursday, the Jones family confirmed Bianca, 19, had died after spending more than a week in a coma in a Bangkok hospital.

Her best friend, Holly Bowles, also 19, continues to fight for life in a separate hospital.

The young women were among a dozen tourists who became ill in a suspected mass methanol poisoning in the popular Laos town of Vang Vieng on November 13.

Overnight, British lawyer Simone White, 28, was confirmed as the fifth casualty in the mass poisoning. Two Danish women and an American have also died.

Jones and Bowles, both from Beaumaris in Melbourne’s southeast, had been in Laos as part of a gap year trip they had been planning together for years.

Both were also active members of Beaumaris Football Club, and a clearly emotional president Heath on Friday today Sunrise host Nat Barr the pair were “classic local footballers”.

“Two very close friends,” he said of the teenagers.

“Women’s footy obviously has been evolving over the last five years so, they made the leap of faith to go into a contact sport which, surprisingly, a lot of girls really like.

“They’re both energetic. They’ve both got a real zest for throwing themselves into life. So, it’s no surprise they went off on this great adventure overseas after COVID, when their footy career was interrupted for a few years.

“A lot of our young people are just now catching up (after they) missed out during COVID years, where they can now go and see the world and socialise.

“Then something like this happens and it just rocks you.”

Heath encouraged everyone to remind young people to be wary of drinks in overseas countries.

Barr then asked how the parents of the two young women were doing, saying: “This is the rite of passage for so many Aussie families. We are all putting ourselves in the place of these beautiful families. How are they going?”

“They’re doing it tough,” Heath replied.

“They’ve been over there for a week or so now. It’s not easy. There’s no sugar-coating it. They’ve been remarkably strong.

“They’re both very proud families. They’re very supportive. So, we’re back here in Australia, we feel quite helpless about the situation other than just trying to help them and deflect a bit of the attention away from them while they can focus on the girls, which everyone has been very good at doing.”

Heath said the football club would start a GoFundMe to relieve some of the financial pressure on the families — but would seek permission from both of them.

Heath said news of Jones’ death “rocked” the entire community “to their foundations”.

“The news has been hard,” he said.

“The one comfort is the overwhelming response we’ve had not only from local people here in our local community but the response from Australians has just been quite overwhelming.

“Certainly, the families are conveying that, they’re feeling that and it’s making a big difference to them overseas while they’re dealing with this horrible situation.”