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BOOZE TRAGEDY
Simone fell ill in the tourist town Vang Vieng
- Annabel Bate, Foreign News Reporter
A BRITISH lawyer has died after apparently being poisoned by a drink laced with methanol while holidaying in Laos.
Simone White, 28, from Orpington, Kent, is the fifth tourist to have tragically died after falling ill last week.
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It comes just hours after 19-year-old Australian tourist Bianca Jones was confirmed dead.
Two Danish women in their twenties and an American are also those reported to have died after the incident.
At least 11 people, including Brits, remain in hospital after allegedly being served laced drinks at a bar in Vang Vieng.
Simone was an associate lawyer specialising in intellectual property and technology in London at the American law firm Squire Patton Boggs, The Times reports.
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She was an A-level pupil at St Olave's Grammar School in Orpington and went on to study Law at Newcastle University.
The Brit then did a fast-track course at the BPP law school.
Simone's friend Bethany Clarke raised the alarm with an urgent warning on the Laos Backpacking Facebook group.
She wrote: “Urgent — please avoid all local spirits. Our group stayed in Vang Vieng and we drank free shots offered by one of the bars.
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"Just avoid them as so not worth it. Six of us who drank from the same place are in hospital currently with methanol poisoning.”
Bethany added that she was “very fatigued and then fainted, then just felt nauseous and then my liver started to shut down”.
She continued: “I got to the private hospital in time but underwent many infusions and tablets and days of recovery.”
Bianca Jones meanwhile was rushed to hospital on November 13 in neighbouring Thailand after falling ill in Vang Vieng - a town popular with foreign backpackers.
The teen, from Melbourne, Australia, died on Thursday.
Her friend Holly Bowles, also 19, was with her that night remains in hospital on life support.
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A Thai police official told Reuters: "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."
Governments in Australia and Britain have previously warned travellers to be careful of alcoholic drinks in Laos.
Methanol is a toxic alcohol that is used industrially as a solvent, pesticide, and fuel source, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says on its website.
The hostel manager, Duong Duc Toan, confirmed more than 100 guests were plied with free shots of Lao Tiger vodka, mixed with ice and Coke Zero.
He said the alcohol was from a certified distributor and not tampered with by his staff.
“Right now the police [are telling] every hostel and hotel and bar to stop selling drinks in Vang Vieng," he told the Associated Press.
Toan told the Australian broadcaster ABC: “The police in Vang Vieng and [the capital] Vientiane already came to the hostel to check, the shop [where] we buy the vodka, check the shop [where] we buy the whisky.
“We don’t do anything wrong, for sure. I really take care of all of the customers [who] stay with our hotel and our hostel.”
Laospolice have launched a probe into the alleged poisoning.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: “We are providing consular assistance to British nationals and their families and are in contact with the local authorities following an incident in Laos."
The British government issued an urgent warning through the Foreign Office.
This message alerted travellers to counterfeit alcohol on the market in the popular backpacking area.
The FCDO said: “Methanol has been used in the manufacture of counterfeit replicas of well-known alcohol brands or illegal local spirits, like vodka.
“You should take care if offered, particularly for free, or when buying spirit-based drinks.
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“If labels, smell or taste seem wrong then do not drink.”
Travellers were advised to only buy alcohol from licensed liquor stores, only drink at licensed places, and avoid home-made alcoholic drinks.
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