"For Bethany Clarke, poison tasted like nothing. There was no bitter aftertaste, no astringent sting at the back of the tongue. If anything, she thought in passing, the free shots she and her friends were drinking at a hostel bar in Laos had probably been watered down she wasn't detecting a strong vodka flavour through the veil of Sprite she had mixed it with."
"The debate over whether it was food poisoning, a hangover, a virus. Someone in the group finally deciding it was time to find a hospital. The gradual, creeping realisation, as they waited in the ward, that something was badly wrong, that White in particular was getting sicker. Hearing her breathing shift to short gasps. The news that her brain was swelling, crushing into her skull. Finally, her life support being turned off."
Bethany Clarke drank about five free shots at a hostel bar in Vang Vieng, mixed with Sprite, and noticed no bitter or astringent taste. CCTV shows the group laughing during happy hour. By the next evening Clarke and friends were hospitalized; Simone White became critically ill with vomiting, fainting, and later severe brain swelling. White's breathing deteriorated, life support was turned off on 21 November. Six tourists died in the 2024 Laos poisoning after consuming methanol-contaminated drinks. Methanol is a cheap and deadly relative of ethanol. Contamination commonly occurs where spirits are sold on the black market or are poorly regulated.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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