Anger as hotel manager reportedly opens new Laos resort after methanol poisoning killed six tourists

News.com.au

3 days ago

The former manager of the notorious hostel at the centre of the deadly methanol poisonings in Laos is said to be opening up a new luxury resort just down the road.
Australians Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones, both 19, were among six tourists staying at Nana Backpackers Hostel in Vang Vieng last November who tragically died after drinking contaminated alcohol from the hostel bar.
No charges have been laid against anyone in the six months since the incident.
Just a day after the Herald Sun reported the former hostel manager known as 'Pikachu' had fled to Vietnam and claimed to have not gone back to Laos, Nine News reports Pikachu confirmed to the outlet he is involved in the new Sunrise Mountain View Resort, located just 450 metres away from the closed Nana Backpackers.
The parents of Ms Bowles and Ms Jones told the broadcaster in a joint statement that they were 'angered at the recent news from Laos'.
Pikachu has been proudly sharing photos and videos on Facebook of the new resort under construction for almost a year, which is promoted as having 'breathtaking views' and a rooftop bar to watch the sunset.
In a post on May 24, Pikachu said there would be a month of finishes and 'then we will celebrate welcoming guests', according to an English translation.
Sunrise Mountain View Resort has since denied any connection with Pikachu.
'I want to confirm with you that there is no 'Pikachu' in my resort!' an unnamed spokesperson told news.com.au in an email on Sunday.
'I'm the owner. Telling me there's a 'Pikachu' in my place is not so respectful for me, please don't bother me or cause me any problems!'
The Herald Sun had contacted Pikachu via WhatsApp on a number he gave when being interviewed after news broke of the poisonings in November.
When asked about what happened to hostel staff who were initially detained, Pikachu said, 'I have not gone back to Laos, I don't want to talk. Maybe one day I go back to Laos but not for a long time. The hostel closed. I have no idea.'
Melbourne best friends Ms Bowles and Ms Jones died after they consumed vodka and whiskey laced with methanol at the Nana Backpackers Hostel.
In May, the Australian Department of Foreign Affair and Trade (DFAT) informed the families of Ms Bowles and Ms Jones, who are still desperately seeking answers, that charges have reportedly been recommended by local police against 13 people from Nana Backpackers and the Laos 'Tiger' distillery. The proposed charges include elimination of evidence, violation of food and health security and unlawful business operations.
Mrs Bowles described the charges as 'appalling' and 'insulting', while Mrs Jones said she was 'furious'.
'We know that there's no murder or manslaughter charges, which we feel there should be,' Mrs Jones told 60 Minutes.
The other tourists who died include British lawyer Simone White, 28, Danes Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20, and Freja Vennervald Sorensen, 21, and American James Louis Hutson, 57.
Final moments before horror death in Laos
Simone White's travel partner Bethany Clarke recalled the horrific experience of falling ill and witnessing her friend die to news.com.au last month.
Ms Clarke said they got to the hostel's bar just after 8pm on November 19 and consumed between five and six vodka shots served by the hostel, which they mixed with a bottle of Sprite and some ice cubes they also purchased from the bar.
At the time, Ms Clarke and Ms White thought nothing of the drinks, but as the night moved on, and by the next morning — the pair started to feel an illness that to this day, Ms Clarke cannot quite explain.
The pair woke the next morning to take part in a pre-booked kayaking tour and visit the famous Blue Lagoons which they'd both been looking forward to.
'We woke up and felt slightly off … one of our friends described it as feeling drunk,' she said.
'But … I feel like when you're drunk, you are happy. And this was a bit more … I don't know, just a sense that there wasn't something quite right and you couldn't put your finger on what it was. You would never feel as fatigued as we felt that day.'
The pair pushed through, but within hours their condition got progressively worse — particularly for Ms White with a loss of appetite and an inability to swim.
By the time the kayaking portion of the tour commenced, Ms Clarke knew this was more than a hangover or food poisoning.
'Simone and I were having to just lay down in the backs of the kayaks … we weren't able to actually use our arms,' she said.
Venturing back to Vang Vieng, the pair collected their belongings before boarding a mini bus bound for their next stop, Vientiane.
Ms Clarke said she fell asleep straight away at the back of the vehicle, only to be woken to shouts that Ms White was vomiting outside the bus.
'I fainted which I've never done before, so that should have been an alarm bell, but for some reason it wasn't … because of this cognitive decline,' Ms Clarke explained.
'Our [other] friend decided that we'd be taken to a hospital. So we ended up in a public hospital. They didn't have a clue what was wrong with us … they were coming up with food poisoning, but that was not the case.'
Ms Clarke claims the hospital did not do the correct blood tests, instead insisting on a full blood count and electrolyte panels, which failed to show methanol poisoning.
About 24 hours in, Ms White started to go into respiratory distress, and from there she entered a rapid decline.
'She started gasping for air,' Ms Clarke recalled. 'She then wasn't able to talk to me. She wasn't able to really look at me properly. She had her eyes open, but they were just glazed.
'She wasn't able to concentrate on me, and they [the hospital] were saying to me, she's really anxious. They just had absolutely no idea what to do with her … they gave her oxygen, but again, it was just not the right treatment. She needed to have dialysis at that point.'
Ms Clarke made the decision to get Ms White out of the public hospital and into a private facility. As soon as they arrived — around 28 hours after consuming the drinks — Ms White was taken for immediate dialysis.
Ms Clarke was forced to make decisions about the life of her best friend while not having full cognitive awareness herself.
'They [hospital] handed a load of forms to fill in … I was just having to wake up from being asleep and they'd say, 'Can you sign this and can you pay for this?'' she recalled.
'It was just horrendous … brain damage had occurred … she actually had five seizures during the process.'
Ms Clarke was forced to make the call to Ms White's mother Sue to inform her they were in hospital with suspected methanol poisoning — a conversation she will never escape.
Ms White's mother arrived from the UK to Laos just before her daughter went in for brain surgery.
'Sue literally got there as Simone was being wheeled in … obviously all her hair was shaved off. Then a few hours later we found out that although the brain surgery was sort of successful, she'd developed a bleed on that side of the brain as a result of the surgery,' Ms Clarke said.
'The other side of her brain was swollen as well. So at that point, they said that she's just going to end up in a coma regardless of what we do.'
Ms Clarke and Mrs White were left with the excruciating wait of letting Ms White 'die naturally'.
But because her heartbeat was still so strong, Mrs White had to speak with the British Embassy and plead to allow the turning off of her daughter's life support machine.
'They [the hospital] weren't happy initially with that idea because they're Buddhist and they want prolonged life, not to end it,' Ms Clarke said.
'But it was just a necessary thing that had to happen. Sue had to end Simone's life … And she had, I think, three attempts at trying to turn the machine off, but because she had no member of staff in there, it was just agonising and took a very long time.'