Methanol poisoning at Nana Backpackers Hostel: Lawyer Simone White dies after Aussie Bianca Jones passes away

A British lawyer has died after drinking free shots allegedly laced with deadly methanol while on holiday in Laos.

Simone White, 28, is the sixth tourist to have passed away after falling dangerously ill last week.

At least seven others, including British holidaymakers, remain in hospital following the suspected poisoning at the Nana Backpackers Hostel in the popular resort town of Vang Vieng.

Australian Bianca Jones, 19, and her friend Holly Bowles have died along with two Danish women in their 20s and a 56-year-old American man.

Ms White, from Orpington in Kent, was an associate lawyer specialising in technology and intellectual property at the London office of the US law firm Squire Patton Boggs.

After completing her A-levels at St Olave’s Grammar School in Orpington, she studied law at Newcastle University before taking a fasttrack course at BPP Law School.

Ms White’s friend, Bethany Clarke, a healthcare worker from Orpington, posted a warning on the Laos Backpacking Facebook page to other travellers, telling them: “Urgent – please avoid all local spirits. Our group stayed in Vang Vieng and we drank free shots offered by one of the bars.

“Just avoid them as so not worth it. Six of us who drank from the same place are in hospital currently with methanol poisoning.”

She said that after having the shots she was “very fatigued and then fainted, then just felt nauseous and then my liver started to shut down”.

She added: “I got to the private hospital in time but underwent many infusions and tablets and days of recovery.”

Referring to Ms Jones, a police official said: “The physician who examined her said the cause of death was a methanol poisoning, from fake liquor. The amount of methanol in her body was high, leading to swelling of the brain.”

Hostel manager and bartender Duong Duc Toan, who served the shots, denied his Tiger Vodka had made his guests ill.

Mr Toan said he bought the alcohol from a certified distributor and insisted it had not been adulterated by himself or his staff. He said the shots were served to around 100 guests and the hostel had not received any other complaints.

To prove his point, the bartender drank from one of the vodka bottles that were in use on the night to prove it was safe.

Methanol is a toxic alcohol used industrially as a solvent, pesticide, and fuel source. In southeast Asia it is sometimes substituted for ethanol – the main ingredient of alcoholic drinks – as a cheap counterfeit.

Staff became concerned about Ms Jones and Ms Bowles after they failed to check out on November 13, and arranged to take them to hospital after they “calmly” asked for assistance.

Hostel CCTV shows one of the women being transported to hospital on the back of a moped.

Mr Toan said the Australians were at the bar playing cards from 8pm to 10.30pm and had three drinks each in that time.

He poured them a Lao Pdr Tiger Vodka containing 40 per cent alcohol, and mixed it with ice and Coke Zero.

“Right now the police (are telling) every hostel and hotel and bar to stop selling drinks in Vang Vieng,” he said.

Best friends Ms Jones and Ms Bowles, who were on a “dream getaway” gap-year trip in southeast Asia, were taken across the Thai border to Udon Thani Hospital and Bangkok Hospital respectively after telling hostel staff they needed a doctor.

On Wednesday, Ms Jones’s parents expressed their hope that local police would swiftly find out what happened, telling the Herald Sun newspaper in Melbourne: “Our family has been overwhelmed by the messages of love and support that have come from across Australia.”

The Foreign Office has warned Britons travelling to Laos against consuming replica alcohol brands that may contain methanol.