The four words survivor of methanol tragedy that killed six tourists wants every backpacker to know

Yahoo

17-05-2025

'Steer clear, drink beer'.
They're the four words Bethany Clarke wants every backpacker heading to Southeast Asia to remember.
That's because six months ago, the 28-year-old Brisbane resident watched her best friend's devastated mother struggle to turn off her daughter's life support in a Laos hospital — and she doesn't want anyone else to go through the same experience.
"I just sat there watching her stats on the monitor slowly get lower and lower," Bethany recalled to Yahoo News Australia. Because of the language barrier, the steps required weren't fully communicated, meaning the ordeal took over an hour. "It was just horrendous," she said.
Bethany is one of the survivors of the Laos methanol poisoning tragedy that made headlines around the world. Six people died, including Bethany's best friend Simone White, a British lawyer, and the two Melbourne teenagers Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones. It's believed all six victims, as well as other tourists hospitalised at the time, drank the same spirits suspected of being laced with lethal doses of methanol.
Bethany and Simone, both from the UK and friends since childhood, were travelling Southeast Asia with another friend David last November when they arrived in Vang Vieng, a Laos backpacker hotspot which had tried to repair what was once a notorious reputation for cheap alcohol and drugs several decades ago.
They settled into the Nana Backpackers Hostel before heading down to its bar and enjoying its famous free shots offered every night during happy hour. And while there was nothing that stood out as concerning to her, Bethany did have her reservations.
"I remember looking at the sign and thinking 'Christ, the alcohol must be very cheap to be able to make it free for two hours'," Bethany noted. The group went on to consume five to six shots each at the bar.
The next day they started to feel off. Booked in for a day of kayaking, they felt lethargic and couldn't muster the energy to do much at all. "Simone and I just had to lie there looking up at the sky," Bethany recalled after getting onto a kayak each.
They soldiered on and hours later they were on a bus to the next destination of their holiday but their conditions deteriorated. With Simone repeatedly throwing up and Bethany fainting, their friend David wasn't taking any chances and took them to the nearest hospital. It was there that Simone would then take a turn for the worse.
"She started going into respiratory distress and was gasping for breath and couldn't talk," Bethany said. "She couldn't even look at me properly."
Now seriously fearing for her welfare in an overcrowded facility, they managed to relocate to a private hospital where they were admitted to the ICU in private rooms. Little did Bethany know, she would never speak with her best friend again.
"The next day the doctors told me she was doing better but she'd had a seizure. I contacted her mum Sue by text saying we were in hospital but Simone is doing better now, but we need to wait for her to wake up from sedation.
"And of course, she never woke up."
Simone's mother flew out as quickly as she could from the UK, and by the time her mum arrived she'd had surgery on her brain to try and alleviate built-up pressure. Despite having just a 20 per cent success rate, it worked. But tragically doctors discovered she would need surgery on the other side of her head after discovering further swelling. Such a procedure would leave her in a coma indefinitely. Without it, she would endure a prolonged death.
After four days and assistance from the consulate to convince doctors to agree to her wishes, Sue was allowed to turn off her daughter's life support.
While the hospital eventually began to suspect methanol poisoning was the cause of their symptoms, Bethany had no idea she was part of a much-wider tragedy impacting tourists from all around the world.
When other backpackers presented to the same hospital with similar symptoms, it soon became apparent this was not an isolated incident. By this point, other tourists and friends of those impacted began leaving desperate warnings about the hostel on Google Reviews.
Several posts tried to get the message out there that people who drank at the hostel were ending up in hospital in serious conditions impacting their breathing and vision. But they were met with accusations of slander by the hostel, and soon after, to the dismay of those impacted, the Google reviews vanished.
"I didn't even realise that could happen. I was just so surprised... those Google Reviews were supposed to be protecting the public. It's crazy," Bethany said.
Not knowing what else to do, she turned to Facebook and left a series of posts in specific groups for travellers in Laos. It was soon after she learned about Melbourne teens Holly and Bianca being taken to Thai hospitals in serious conditions, as well as the two young Danish women Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman and Freja Vennervald Sorensen who were also hospitalised. All four would later die in the tragedy.
"While we were there in the hospital there were more and more people coming in and we were thinking 'Jesus Christ, how big is this problem?'" Bethany recalled.
Google failed to respond to Yahoo's request for comment about the deleted reviews before publication.
Bethany, a self-proclaimed worrier who 'overthinks everything", revealed to Yahoo one "red flag" encounter with the hostel before they'd even arrived could have meant they avoided the deadly bar altogether.
When they were at the airport heading to Laos, they realised their room booking wasn't for three people so they called the hostel. But both Simone and Bethany failed to get a straight answer from the receptionist and grew increasingly frustrated with the situation. It was at that point they decided to find alternative accomodation.
"I said to Simone we need to book a hotel, so we found one and had it all booked but David in the meantime had managed to sort it out with the hostel and book a three-person room so we had to revert back to the hostel."
When they arrived, they were met by someone else who Bethany said was much more accommodating, meaning her reservations about the place were quickly forgotten.
But in hindsight, she wishes that red flag had been enough to convince them to move on.
"I would have liked to think we wouldn't have gone to the hostel bar if we'd ended up at the hotel, but you just don't know," Bethany told Yahoo. "I kept second guessing everything when it all happened. It's all these should haves, would haves. You can't keep doing it to yourself."
Bethany is now campaigning to have methanol education implemented into schools' curriculums in her native UK. The motto of her campaign is "steer clear, drink beer". It is similar to the messaging used by Colin Ahearn, a seasoned campaigner who has worked tirelessly in Australia to warn tourists of the dangers of methanol poisoning overseas, particularly in Bali via his Facebook awareness page "Just Don't Drink Spirits in Bali".
The idea of both campaigns is to prevent tourists drinking free-poured spirits. And while the risk is low, there is a chance liquors sold abroad contain methanol, a deadly byproduct of distillation which can be found in bootleg spirits. Just 25ml of methanol consumed can prove fatal.
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A post shared by Methanol Awareness for Simone White (@simonewhitemethanolawareness)
Over the years Colin has helped guide countless tourists from around the world who experience methanol poisoning, the majority of whom had no idea of what it was beforehand.
Colin praised Bethany's courage and determination to make a change, something he's been trying to do with little assistance. Both Colin and Bethany believe more needs to be done by governments, fearing a simple update of their travel advice sites is not enough to protect tourists.
Details of the ongoing investigations in Laos are scarce, with even the families of those impacted fed very little information through their respective embassies from Lao authorities. And while Yahoo understands charges against several people involved will be laid, whether that involves charges directly related to the six deaths is unclear, leaving families fearing true accountability for what has taken place won't be achieved.
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