Latest news with #CalumMacdonald
News.com.au
2 days ago
- News.com.au
Laos methanol poisoning survivor is now blind
A British backpacker who consumed methanol-tainted alcohol at a hostel in Laos – which claimed the lives of two Australian friends – has revealed he's now blind. Calum Macdonald, 23, was one of a group of people who were poisoned after drinking free whisky and vodka shots at the Nana Backpackers hostel in Vang Vieng last year. Six people later died of methanol poisoning, including Australian best friends Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones, both aged 19. Calum has since opened up about the horrific experience telling BBC Breakfast he could see a 'kaleidoscopic light' before losing his vision. He claimed staff had offered free liquor shots to guests which he was mixing with soft drinks. But when he arrived at the Vietnamese border the next day with his friends, he said, he began to suspect something was wrong. 'I remember having this sort of kaleidoscopic, blinding light in my eyes and to the point at which I couldn't see anything,' he told the BBC. '(We agreed) it was strange but we thought it was food poisoning and the light I was seeing was some kind of sensitivity.' However, when they arrived at their destination in Vietnam, he knew something wasn't right. 'We were sitting in the hotel room, my friends and I, and I said to them: 'Why are we sitting in the dark? Someone should turn a light on.'' His friends told him the lights were already on. Calum, who is now permanently blind, is telling his story for the first time as he calls on the UK government to make information about the risks more widely known. He wants the Foreign Office to be clearer about the dangers tourists can face in locations where methanol poisoning is a concern. 'I felt, given that I was lucky enough to survive, I have a bit of a responsibility to try and prevent the same thing from happening to other people,' he told the BBC. In total, six people died including British lawyer, Simone White, 28, US man James Louis Hutson, 57 and Freja Vennervald Sorensen, 21, and Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20, from Denmark. Bethany Clarke, who is the friend of Simone, is formerly from England but now lives in Queensland – and she too has called on Queensland schools to provide better education on the dangers of free, bootleg alcohol. The pair were travelling together when the horrific incident unfolded. An investigation by the Laotian government resulted in the subsequent arrest of 11 staff members including its manager. Eight workers, including the manager of the Nana hostel, were detained for questioning by police. The manager denied any responsibility, saying hundreds of guests had been given shots without becoming unwell. The venue has remained closed since the poisoning and is under construction at the moment however TripAdvisor told the BBC that it had received a request to change the name of the hostel on the platform. A spokesman said it had not received proof of a change in ownership, so previous reviews would remain visible on the listing. Methanol, which is colourless and the simplest form of alcohol, is closely related to ethanol, which is the type of alcohol normally found in beer, wine and spirits, but is a dangerous poison. It is a chemical building block for hundreds of everyday products, including plastics, paints, car parts and construction materials. 'They wouldn't have known' Methanol is often deliberately added to alcoholic beverages as a cheaper alternative to ethanol, which is the normal alcohol used in alcoholic drinks. According to the Methanol Institute, this usually occurs in countries where taxes on ethanol are seen as too high — such as Bali and other Southeast Asian countries. Drinking just 25 to 90ml of methanol can be fatal, the institute said. It's the reason Australian man Colin Ahearn, who runs Facebook advisory page Just Don't Drink Spirits in Bali, has been advocating for travellers to only drink single-serve beverages while abroad — such as bottled beer or pre-mixed sealed cans. Mr Ahearn has been providing travellers who have fallen victim to methanol poisoning advice on treatment and recovery for close to a decade. Mr Ahearn said once methanol starts to take hold of someone who has consumed the chemical, a relatively small amount can be fatal. 'The initial signs will be blurred vision, and around 99 per cent of victims will have erratic breathing,' he said. 'They will have stomach cramps and diarrhoea … and disorientation will hit. They will also want to sleep, and then what happens … it essentially embalms you.' Mr Ahearn said a single shot of methanol is enough to cause blindness, and while everyone processes the chemical differently — if someone weighed around 60kg and had a double shot in their drink — 'that would be lights out and enough to kill you'. But what's perhaps the most scary part of methanol poisoning, he said, is how it can sometimes mimic the common symptoms associated with 'Bali belly' — and delay a victim from seeking help at the right time. 'You're going to have cramps, nausea, headaches … a lot of the things that will mimic [Bali belly or Delhi belly] but it is actually methanol poisoning,' he said. 'It's horrendous, the gut pain … the fear … the anxiety that comes along with it.'
BBC News
2 days ago
- Health
- BBC News
I saw a kaleidoscopic light before going blind, says survivor of Laos methanol poisoning
When Calum Macdonald arrived at the Vietnamese border, he couldn't read the administrative forms in front of him. All he could see was a "kaleidoscopic blinding light". He had just stepped off an overnight bus with his friends from the popular tourist destination of Vang Vieng in Laos. The day before, the group had been staying at a hostel where free whisky and vodka shots were offered to guests. Calum was mixing them with soft drinks. It was only at the border that he suspected something might be wrong with his sight - which he told his friends. Free shots and beer buckets in party town at centre of methanol deaths 'Don't let it be your best friend that dies from methanol poisoning' "I remember having this sort of kaleidoscopic, blinding light in my eyes and to the point at which I couldn't see anything. "[We agreed] it was strange but we thought it was food poisoning and the light I was seeing was some kind of sensitivity," he tells BBC Breakfast. But when they arrived at their destination in Vietnam, it was clear something was seriously wrong. "We were sitting in the hotel room, my friends and I, and I said to them: 'Why are we sitting in the dark? Someone should turn a light on.'" The lights were already on. Calum, 23, is now blind and telling his story for the first time. He was one of several victims of a mass methanol poisoning in Vang Vieng last November. Six people died. Calum knew two of them - Danish girls he had met on a night out. All had been staying at the town's Nana Backpacker Hostel. Calum is now working with the families of three other British people who died following methanol poisoning in South East Asia. They are calling on the Foreign Office to be clearer about the dangers people face when booking holidays in countries where methanol poisoning is a concern. Simone White was one of those people. The day after Calum left Vang Vieng, Simone drank free shots at the hostel. Earlier she'd sent her mum a text message saying this was the best holiday she'd ever been on. Simone was admitted to hospital in the following days and a friend called her mother Sue to inform her of what had happened. Later, she rang again to say Simone was in a coma. Sue booked a flight immediately but, before she could take off, she received another call in the middle of the night from a doctor in Laos who was treating Simone. "[He said] you need to give permission for urgent brain surgery or she's not going to survive… "I flew out the next day knowing she was going through surgery and I expected the worst, to be honest." The 28-year-old died in hospital from methanol poisoning. "It's very hard to come to terms with what's happened," Sue says. "Nothing is going to bring Simone back." Methanol is a type of alcohol commonly found in cleaning products, fuel and antifreeze. It is similar to ethanol, which is used for alcoholic drinks, but is more toxic to humans because of the way it is processed by the body. Alcoholic drinks can become contaminated with methanol if they are manufactured poorly. It is a known problem with cheap spirits in South East Asia where hundreds of people are poisoned each year, according to the charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF). If you consume one of these contaminated drinks and suffer methanol poisoning, symptoms can include dizziness, tiredness, headaches and nausea. For many people it feels similar to a normal hangover, which makes it difficult to know if you have been poisoned or just had a few too many drinks. After 12-48 hours, more serious problems can emerge like seizures and blurry vision. In severe cases, it can lead to total blindness and leave sufferers in a coma. As little as 30ml of methanol can be fatal to humans, says the MSF. If diagnosed within 10-30 hours after consumption, methanol poisoning can be treated successfully with dialysis. Kirsty McKie, 38, died in 2022 but it was not the result of accepting free shots. She had been enjoying drinks at home with a friend ahead of a night out in Bali - the Indonesian island where she had been living and working for eight years. Her friend, Sonia Taylor, said they both felt like they had a particularly bad hangover the next day before Kirsty was taken to hospital for treatment. Sonia had also drunk the contaminated alcohol, but survived. "We had no idea," says Sonia. "That's probably been the hardest part for me, not knowing why you live and somebody else dies… It doesn't seem to have any rhyme or reason as to why." On Sumatra, another Indonesian island, Cheznye Emmons died after drinking gin that was later found to contain 66,000 times the legal limit for methanol in drinks. Cheznye's mother Pamela tells the BBC: "I think the worst part about that… [was] just before she started having a fit, when she first arrived at the hospital, she said to her boyfriend: 'I'm really, really scared.' "And that was basically the last time [she spoke]." Calum's advice to tourists is to avoid free drinks and spirits in general. "There are lots of lovely beers in south-east Asia, which I'm sure people would really enjoy." He says learning of the deaths of the two Danish girls he met in Vang Vieng changed his perspective about his blindness. "Part of the way that I [had] dealt with it was to bury my head in the sand… I did really feel like, in many ways, my life wasn't worth living." Calum is now learning to use a cane and hopes to apply for a guide dog soon. He adds: "[The deaths] made me realise that I was very lucky and I felt very grateful that, although I had some difficult consequences, a lot of people did have it worse. "I felt, given that I was lucky enough to survive, I have a bit of a responsibility to try and prevent the same thing from happening to other people." The Foreign Office described methanol poisoning and counterfeit alcohol as a "serious problem in some parts of the world" and said it was working with local authorities and the travel industry to tackle the issue. "We seek to make clear the risks to British people travelling abroad and we raise awareness through our travel advice and Travel Aware campaign." Tourism Laos
Daily Mirror
2 days ago
- Daily Mirror
Methanol poisoning Brit, 23, blinded for life after accepting free hostel drinks
Calum Macdonald, 23, saw a 'kaleidoscopic, blinding light' in his eyes before losing his sight after a methanol poisoning in Laos last November that killed six - including Brit Simone White A young British man who was blinded after drinking bootleg whisky and vodka in Laos last year has shared the heartbreaking moment he realised he had lost his sight. Calum Macdonald, 23, was among the group of tourists suspected to have fallen victim to methanol poisoning at a hostel in Vang Vieng last November. Six people tragically died, including 28-year-old lawyer Simone White from Orpington, Kent. The tourists had been staying at the Nana Backpackers hostel and are believed to have consumed free alcoholic drinks laced with methanol. Simone's best friend, Bethany Clarke, spoke to the Mirror about the tragedy last month. READ MORE: Man crushed to death by wife after she 'stumbled and fell on top of him' Calum, who is now permanently blind, told BBC Breakfast that he had mixed the spirits with soft drinks and noticed something was wrong with his vision the next day. While on a bus with his friends crossing into Vietnam, he said he could not read any of the signs and saw a "kaleidoscopic, blinding light" in his eyes. "We thought it was food poisoning and the light I was seeing was some kind of sensitivity," he said. Things took a turn for the worse at the hotel, where Calum's vision had gone black. "We arrived in Hanoi, and at that point, the kind of white light in my eyes had diminished," he said. "It wasn't until we got to our hotel room and my friends and I were sitting in the room, and I said to my friends, why are we sitting in the dark here? Let's turn on a light. And they informed me that the light was, in fact, already on." Calum described how he struggled to breathe and speak as he was rushed to hospital. Initial tests did not reveal the cause, he told BBC Breakfast, but when he returned to England, results confirmed it was linked to something he had been drinking. Methanol is a toxic type of alcohol often found in cleaning products. Drinking methanol-laced alcohol can at first cause hangover-like symptoms, including dizziness, headaches and nausea. But within 12 to 48 hours, symptoms can progress to seizures, blurred vision and even blindness. As little as 30ml of methanol can be deadly, according to Médecins Sans Frontières - though treatment with dialysis within 10 to 30 hours can save lives. Calum wants young people, especially students planning gap years, to be aware of the dangers of methanol poisoning. He has also urged the Foreign Office to be clearer about the countries where the risk is greatest. He said: "I think I definitely feel a sense of responsibility as someone who's been lucky enough to survive this, to try and get the message out. "Because I know certainly, if I'd known about it, I wouldn't be in this situation. And I know I have a lot of friends that have also done similar sort of gap years in travelling around even that particular area. "If I was to put out a recommendation to people, although I'm certainly not an expert or a medical professional, I would probably say that if you did want to drink alcohol in some of the affected countries, probably just to avoid spirits entirely. "I think it would be nice, even if we could get some more information directly into universities, because I think that's the age of people that are really considering doing these kinds of trips, I think that would be a great thing." Two of the tourists who died - Danish friends Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20, and Freja Sorensen, 21 - had met Calum on a night out. The other victims were American James Huston, 57, Australian women Holly Morton-Bowles and Bianca Jones, both 19, and Simone White, 28.
Metro
2 days ago
- Metro
Brit who survived Laos methanol poisoning tells of moment he woke up blind
A British backpacker left blind after drinking tainted alcohol which killed six fellow tourists in Laos has spoken out about his ordeal for the first time. Calum Macdonald, 23, survived a mass poisoning at the Nana Backpacker Hostel in the southeast Asian country's popular destination of Vang Vieng last November. Guests were offered free shots of vodka and whiskey, which Calum accepted and mixed with soft drinks. He continued his travels with his group the following day and made it to the border before noticing strange effects to his vision. The 23-year-old told BBC Breakfast: 'I remember having this sort of kaleidoscopic, blinding light in my eyes and to the point at which I couldn't see anything. '[We agreed] it was strange but we thought it was food poisoning and the light I was seeing was some kind of sensitivity.' To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video It was only once his group reached a hotel across the border in Vietnam that he realised he had gone blind. He added: 'We were sitting in the hotel room, my friends and I, and I said to them: 'Why are we sitting in the dark? Someone should turn a light on.' The lights were already on.' The booze was contaminated with methanol, a toxic alcohol used in products like antifreeze and varnish which can be lethal if consumed. The substance can be created accidentally in the making of bootleg alcohol, which many poor countries such as Laos have struggled to stamp out. British lawyer Simone White, 28, died after sharing six shots with a friend at the hostel bar. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Two Danish women aged 20 and 21, two 19-year-old Australians and a 57-year-old American also died. Calum is working with the families of three other Brits who died from methanol poisoning in South East Asia to raise awareness. More Trending They have demanded the Foreign Office to issue clearer warnings about the dangers. They include the family of Simone, whose friend and travel companion Bethany Clarke has spearheaded a petition to have British schools teach pupils about the dangers of methanol in PHSE. Bethany, 28, told Metro in April about the 'devastating' ordeal of surviving the poisoning while her friend died. The Nana hostel reopened in June with a new name and new branding, according to reports. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: A new luxury bus will connect 6 European cities for the first time — for £137 MORE: Two cruise passengers die in separate drownings on same day at Bahamas resort MORE: Severe rush hour delays in London with train and Tube lines suspended
BreakingNews.ie
2 days ago
- Health
- BreakingNews.ie
Man who went blind after drinking alcohol in Laos now raising awareness
A man who went blind after drinking alcohol in Laos is working with other affected families to campaign for awareness of methanol poisoning. Calum Macdonald had a night out in Vang Vieng in November last year and the next day his vision was 'engulfed in this blinding white light', he told the BBC. Advertisement Police in Laos have previously detained several people in connection with the deaths of six people who are believed to have been poisoned, including Simone White (28) from Kent in England. Methanol is sometimes used by disreputable bars as a cheaper alternative to ethanol but can cause severe poisoning or death. Mr Macdonald was at a hostel where free whisky and vodka shots were offered, and he mixed them with soft drinks, he said. He told how he was on a bus crossing into Vietnam when he noticed something was wrong. Advertisement He told BBC Breakfast: 'The point at which I really started to notice some strange side effects was we briefly got off the bus to cross the border into Vietnam, and we went through the border office – we had to fill out a number of forms to get across to the other side – and at that point, sort of my entire vision was engulfed in this blinding white light. 'And I just thought, you know, this is very strange. I couldn't actually see where I was walking.' He added: 'We arrived in Hanoi, and at that point, the kind of white light in my eyes had diminished, and it wasn't until we got to our hotel room and my friends and I were sitting in the room, and I said to my friends, why are we sitting in the dark here? Let's turn on a light. And they informed me that the light was, in fact, already on.' Mr Macdonald then went to hospital and said on the journey there he 'really started to struggle to breathe' and could 'barely get my words out'. Advertisement He said a number of tests were carried out initially but it was not until he got back to England when he was in hospital and they 'really sort of indicated that it was definitely related to something I'd been drinking'. Mr Macdonald is now speaking out as he wants information to be available to people about methanol poisoning, especially students who might be preparing to go on a gap year. He said: 'I think I definitely feel a sense of responsibility as someone who's been lucky enough to survive this, to try and get the message out. Because I know certainly, if I'd known about it, I wouldn't be in this situation. 'And I know I have a lot of friends that have also done similar sort of gap years in travelling around even that particular area. And so definitely, I think it's quite important. Advertisement World Laos hostel owners held over deadly tainted alcoho... Read More 'I've had the opportunity to speak to a number of other families that have been affected by this, and they're far more knowledgeable and have been campaigning for awareness for a lot longer than I have been involved. And what they tend to say generally is that sometimes the advice isn't put in strong enough terms. 'And so I think, I guess if I was to put out a recommendation to people, although I'm certainly not an expert or a medical professional, I would probably say that if you did want to drink alcohol in some of the affected countries, probably just to avoid spirits entirely. 'I think it would be nice, even if we could get some more information directly into universities, because I think that's the age of people that are really considering doing these kinds of trips, I think that would be a great thing.'
