Factory owner arrested in breakthrough in Laos mass methanol poisoning that left six backpackers dead
2 December 2024, 08:18
A factory owner has been arrested by police in a major breakthrough in the mass methanol poisoning in Laos that left six backpackers dead.
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The factory outside the capital city Vientiane is understood to have been where the local Tiger Vodka and Tiger Whiskey were made.
Six foreign tourists died after falling ill while holidaying in Vang Vieng - they had all been staying at the Nana Backpackers Hostel. Eight staff members have been arrested.
British lawyer Simone White, 28, Danish women Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20, and Frela Vennervald Sorensen, 21, US man James Louis Hutson, 57, all died after drinking contaminated drinks.
Melbourne teenagers Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles, both aged 19, also died.
She was one of a number of people taken to hospital after the incident in the popular backpacking town of Vang Vieng.
She was taken in for surgery just as her mother, Sue White, 61, arrived at the hospital.
It later became clear that her brain function was gone, and she died on Thursday, November 21.
Sue White told The Sunday Times: "The flight from the UK was horrendous.
"Before I left, I got a call from the hospital to say she needed urgent brain surgery and I had to give my consent.
"It was a terrible, terrible journey."
On the night she was poisoned, Simone and her friends drank six vodka shots served by the hostel, the newspaper reported.
Their condition worsened, and they decided to go to hospital.
Police in Laos have detained several people in connection with the death of Ms White and five others, who are also believed to have been poisoned.
She was a lawyer with global law firm Squire Patton Boggs, whose work involved general commercial matters, and contentious and non-contentious intellectual property law issues, according to the firm's website.
Issuing a warning to travellers, her mother said: "Please be careful when it comes to drinks.
"Simone was a university educated, highly intelligent person.
"If it can happen to her, it can happen to anybody."
Landlocked Laos is one of south-east Asia's poorest nations and a popular tourist destination.
Vang Vieng is particularly popular among backpackers seeking partying and adventure sports.
Officials in Laos have released almost no details about the case, with the government keeping a tight lid on information.
The country is a one-party communist state with no organised opposition.
