UPDATE: Methanol-Tainted Alcohol Kills Six Tourists in Laos.

[C0RI0LANUS]

Last edited Tue Nov 26, 2024, 11:38 PM - Edit history (3)

Laos has a population of nearly eight million people. Real GDP per capita is $8,400 (2023 est.).


The late lawyer Simone White (28) from the UK was travelling South East Asia. (Image: Facebook)

Others are sick and two young Australian women are fighting for their lives in Thai hospitals. They drank tainted alcohol in the tourist town of Vang Vieng in Laos. Two young women from Denmark and an unidentified AMCIT have already died; at least ten others are sick.

The parents of the two 19-year-olds from Melbourne are at their bedsides in separate Thai hospitals — one in Bangkok and the other in Udon Than.

Bianca Jones (L) and Holly Bowles (R) were staying at a backpacker hostel in Vang Vieng, a popular party town north of Vientiane.


(Images: Social media)

According to the owner of the Nana Hostel, the young women had been out drinking at a nearby bar. The next morning they were taken to a hospital in Vientiane after falling ill.

The owner of the Nana Hostel in Vang Vieng said he was sure the poisoned drinks were not sold at his bar.


Vang Vieng is a popular destination for backpackers travelling in Laos. (Photo: Basile Morin via Wikimedia Commons)

Methanol is a clear liquid chemical that is often illegally added to alcoholic beverages as a cheaper alternative to ethanol. Consuming even a small amount can be fatal.

Westerners seeking inexpensive vacations in exotic locations should take heed of this cautionary tale. Drink cocktails from a Western-owned hotel or stick to bottled or canned beer that should be opened in one's presence (like bottled water).

Sources:

https://apnews.com/article/australian-laos-thailand-alcohol-poisoning-a5a4035fff9ac6e0960c0ffa4a2ef576

CIA


https://www.pedestrian.tv/news/fifth-person-died-methanol-laos/

[yardwork]

1. Once Bob Kennedy is through with the FDA, this will happen here.

Nothing will be safe.

[C0RI0LANUS]

2. Agree. Blue State health, food, labor, and safety inspectors will have to step up for the next four years.

Red States don't seem to care about protecting their citizens from firearm deaths, air/water pollution, uninspected meats/poultries, unsafe workplaces, or labor abuse.

BTW: Methanol killed thousands during America's Prohibition Era.

[Disaffected]

5. Just to pick a nit:

denatured alcohol is not methanol - it is ethanol with "denaturing" compounds added to prevent it being used as a consumable drink.

[C0RI0LANUS]

8. Thank you for that! People did die from adulterated moonshine alcohol in the 1920s though, right?

Thanks again for the accuracy check.

[Disaffected]

11. YW.

Yes, adding methanol to alcoholic drinks is a very old practice as the (tax) cost is typically much less consumable ethanol. Methanol can also be found in moonshine that is not prepared properly, IIRC by adding fruits rather than grains to the fermentation mixture.

[jmowreader]

9. Methanol is a cheap and popular denaturing agent

The British call denatured alcohol "methylated spirits" for this reason.

[ProfessorGAC]

7. True, But...

The label doesn't match with that story.
The label is for Completely Denatured Alcohol (CDA)
CDA-12A has toluene or heptane added.
CDA-18 is a complex mix or things like MIBK, kerosene, pyruvic acid, butyraldehyde, in a pretty liberal set of ranges.
CDA-19 uses MIBK & Gasoline
CDA-20 uses toluene & gasoline
CDA-35 is 35% ethyl acetate.
These all stink to high heaven, so they couldn't be used for drinking. People would know something is not right. (BTW: CDA-35 is actually not very toxic, but would smell & taste really bad.
The SPECIALLY DENATURED ALCOHOLS (SDA) are the type that use combines potentially lethal but DON'T necessarily have a bad odor or taste.
SDA-3A contains methanol at 5-10%. It's heavily used as an industrial solvent, but that methanol can't be tasted & there's not enough to change the odor. Very dangerous.
For personal care & household products SDA-40B is used. It has far lower toxicity, but has t-butyl alcohol which is an Emerica (majes you puke it up) & a non-toxic bitterant that tastes truly awful, even at ridiculously low levels.
There are others, but aren't used much.
The government developed SDA-3A alcohol during prohibition, then even doubled the amount of methanol when mob chemists distilled it out.
So, you're right. The government poisoned people to enforce Volstead. The estimates are that over 10,000 were killed, blinded or suffered permanent organ damage as a result.
But, the label you have is not for the government developed & approved. I can't imagine anybody being able to swallow a dram of anything with a CDA in it.

[Meowmee]

3. Awful

Strange it was apparently only tourists who were affected.

[C0RI0LANUS]

4. The locals probably don't drink cocktails with vodka, whiskey, or gin, but stick to beer (or just tea).

This is "Lao Beer."

[jmowreader]

10. Laos has never been on my list of places I'd like to see

And now it's even less.

[rockfordfile]

12. Don't get stupid and drink anything that a person gives you

[wendyb-NC]

13. That is absolutely tragic

A sad unnecessary loss, of these young people.

[ecstatic]

14. what's an unidentified "AMCT"

Wow. This is such a sad story. To die on vacation is the worst thing ever. RIP.

[C0RI0LANUS]

15. UPDATE: Eight Arrested in Laos over Alcohol Poisoning Incident Which Killed Six Tourists.

Australians Holly Bowles (L) Bianca Jones (R) were visiting Laos.

Eight people were detained for questioning; all are staff at the Nana Backpackers hostel where all the victims stayed. The hostel is now closed.

The other four victims have been named as Simone White (28), James Louis Hutson (57), Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman (20), and Freja Vennervald Sorensen (21).

Source:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7v3p7qm1dmo

I couldn't think of a better way of killing a country's tourism sector than something heinous like this.

[soandso]

16. It's happened before and elsewhere, too

Contaminated bootleg alcohol kills at least 42 in Iran
1 October 2018
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-45709203

US family sues Cancun resort over 'poisonous' alcohol death
29 November 2018
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46389155

2019
In a recent statement from Costa Rica’s Health Ministry, the agency announced that 25 people died and 59 people have been hospitalized due to drinking alcohol that was tainted with methanol. All of these incidents occurred over the course of the last two and a half months.
https://www.fodors.com/news/news/25-people-have-died-from-tainted-alcohol-in-this-popular-vacation-spot

Since early July of 2017, the Journal Sentinel has heard from more than 170 travelers describing injuries, illnesses and deaths after drinking alcohol at resorts and in tourist towns in Mexico.
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/mexico-blackouts/2018/06/27/mexico-resorts-and-tainted-alcohol-assaults-blackouts-tourists-continue/733401002/

2024
Santo Domingo, DR

The outbreak of methanol intoxication due to the consumption of adulterated alcohol has left 127 deaths and 326 people affected in the country.

This is recorded in the report of the General Directorate of Epidemiology of the Ministry of Public Health, which states that since the beginning of the year to date, 326 cases of methanol intoxication and 127 deaths have been reported in that agency, for a lethality level of 40%.
https://dominicantoday.com/dr/local/2021/04/28/adulterated-alcohol-poisoning-causes-127-deaths/

My God, when I searched for these, there are shit tons of articles about this happening all over the place.

[C0RI0LANUS]

18. Thanks for the info. Wow. Poisoning people is a perfect way to destroy tourism which many countries rely on.

And how terrible is it for families to lose their children in such a waste? The mind boggles.

[soandso]

20. I don't think in any of those cases that it was to sabotage the tourism

I think was done because it was cheap.

Those people really suffered. I read that a couple of the girls texted a friend saying they'd been vomiting blood for hours. What a horror.

[canetoad]

17. Because of the geographic promimity

We often hear stories of alcohol adulteration from various SE Asian countries. This is the worst by far that I have heard of. Six dead people because some bastard wanted a quick buck.

Anyone remember the melamine tainted dog food exported from China? Several animals died, some in the US. It was at the time China was opening up it's trading markets and allowing more 'capitalistic' practices, resulting in mainly the middle-men bulking out their products for bigger returns.

[C0RI0LANUS]

19. In 2009, China executed two executives over tainted milk powder that killed six and sickened 300,000.

Melamine was the cheap, but toxic additive in that particular 2009 atrocity. This could be related to the dog food scandal.

Source:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8375638.stm


China has been branded the world's worst executioner as the state kills thousands of people every year using firing squads, lethal injections, and mobile death vans.

[C0RI0LANUS]

21. Yes, this is unintentional sabotage. Who would ever go back? The offending hostel is already closed.