Laos Methanol Poisining

It’s so awful all those young life’s just gone and for what? So someone could save a few bucks?

I had heard of it before but didn’t think it was so widespread and I hope this sad event promotes awareness of the risks.

Thankfully for me I rarely drink so even though I’ve been to both Thailand (in my 20s) and Vietnam (more recently) while being fairly ignorant of the level of risk, I don’t think I even touched alcohol when I was there anyway.

I was all about the smoothies in Thailand and the coffees in Vietnam and the food in both.

I think I can vaguely remember a similar story in a European country a few years ago. Maybe Greece?

I doubt it was deliberate. I went there more than 20 years ago. The local spirits were dirt cheap and probably not that safely manufactured. Thank goodness nobody got sick back then. But it was like a one horse town, there was only one street that was constructed a few years earlier. Loads of people died there doing tubing a few years ago. Someone died in the waterfall near luang prebang as they have loads of dodgy valium on sale there too.
I hope they prosecute whoever manufactured and served it. RIP those poor young girls x

I'm a 38 year old reasonably intelligent woman who has travelled quite a bit - albeit not backpacking but I've been to plenty of Countries both rich and poor over the years.

Being careful of alcohol or only drinking from sealed bottles and cans honestly has never occurred to me. Literally never entered my mind, nor have I ever read anything about it. I mean, if some dodgy bloke sidled up to me in a dark alley with a shot then obviously I'd probably have declined. But bars, clubs, even street bars - well there were always crowds of people and we've just kind of assumed it's OK and gone with it. Even taken drinks from some places and dh and I were kind of 'well it's a bit grubby but there's lots of people here, a few germs won't harm' 😬

It's bloody frightening. I can't believe I never really even thought of it - but I suppose you don't know what you don't know. Ds1 is nearly 17 and already murmering about a boys holiday somewhere far flung, in 2026 after he's 18. I'm honestly so glad I've read this so I can thoroughly warn him. I don't think I'd have said anything otherwise, outside the 'don't get too drunk' advice.

God those poor people and families.

The Zante cough from cheap vodka imported from Russia

I’ve been to Vang Vieng, it’s stunning and Laos is an incredible country with very open hearted people. It’s terribly sad for the families of the people involved.

In these places you go to bars and you can get the local vodka/rum/spirit or an imported one (if they have it at all) for 10 times the price. I drank it when I went in my 20s and never would have imagined I was drinking “moonshine”.

You’re probably fine in Thailand or Vietnam but Laos is a much poorer country with god only knows what regulation or enforcement.

You can get fake alcohol in Greece too. We used to call them 'bomb' drinks because the next morning it felt like a bomb had gone off in your head.

I was listening to a really interesting podcast on a previous victim of this.
It's this one -see photo (I love the whole series, also available on Spotify with adverts)

Could also just be different bottles from different batches of moonshine.
Methanol and ethanol are very closely related chemically. It’s a bit like producing carbon monoxide instead of carbon dioxide with incomplete combustion. You mess up the distillation environment just a little bit and you end up making methanol alongside the ethanol.
When spirits are made on an industrial scale by legit companies they control the distillation process very carefully and I think government regulations require regular testing to make sure any methanol content stays below a defined safe level.

I am not defending it, but alcohol is a well-known poisonous substance and people still indulge in it. Like others here, I have frequently heard the warnings about drinking bootleg or even "home brew" in Asia and the Far East.

Exactly this - I've travelled throughout SE Asia twice (once as a youngster and once during my 'grown up gap year' when I was 40) and stuck vigilantly to this rule.

First time around I benefited from the advice of an older sibling who had already been there, second time around my days of accepting free shots had passed!

I think this is something people do need to be more aware of.

(In saying that, it's not just an SE Asian thing - I'm Scottish of Highlands & Islands descent and a great uncle of mine died as a result of drinking bootlegged whisky. It's frighteningly easy to make a mistake in the distillation process and that's why we have laws controlling it.)

You’re right, I also assumed it was a targeted murder spree against tourists. Awful in any case, killing ppl to make a profit on ‘free’ booze

Definitely not uncommon.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_methanol_poisoning_incidents

I definitely remember this being a known risk when I was backpacking age - so late 90s - basically avoid moonshine, especially in places like SE Asia. But I can't recall hearing much about it recently at all - and DH has never heard of it.

*my son

Jay son is travelling in Asia at the moment. Funnily before he left I said to him to be careful about drink and only buy bottled beer and cans. Feel so sad for the victims and their families.

It’s terrifying- I heard about ( methanol) poisoning in pets- and it’s imperative to get to a vets ASAP.
It’s an horrendous death otherwise.

It is meant to taste attractive to animals.
The fact humans are DELIBERATELY dosing and poisoning people with this is very worrying.

@warofthetimemachines That's really interesting. The hostel guy said they gave out 100 free shots to lots of people, and only a handful became ill. I wonder if the others continued drinking or something and the unfortunate others just had the shot or something. Or I suppose they could just have had more.

I remember a BBC documentary series a few years ago about Environmental Health Officers going about their business (anyone recall Mr Trebus??) and unregulated alcohol (often sold in v similar branded bottles etc) was one of their bugbears - as it mostly contained deadly methanol.

One can only hope (after all the drastic LA cuts here this last 14 years) that EHOs are still on the case on this. Otherwise, it could easily happen here.

One weird thing about methanol poisoning is that drinking lots of ethanol (legit consumable alcohol) can save you from being poisoned - your body processes the ethanol first which slows slows the rate the methanol produces toxic compounds as it is processed. So maybe when they add in methanol to ethanol based drinks it just stretches them and could drink more than a normal harmful dose of methanol without being injured. But yeah, you have a point. If they figure someone is responsible for deliberately adding methanol to drinks they will be facing some serious criminal charges.

I've read in the news before about people being poisoned by it in Cancun and other areas of Mexico too.

It’s awful but my understanding is this has been happening for a long time. I listened to a podcast that was recorded a good few years ago where they talked about making sure to only order sealed beers and never the spirits due to potential methanol poisoning. The podcaster had heard about someone losing their sight due to it.

I don’t think they knew, there’s a lot of bootleg alchohol. Sometimes with methanol. It can give an alchohol buzz, I’ve heard of people drinking antifreeze for the methanol. Some people will react badly though.

I think they were free shots so possible cheap bootleg booze. Supplier either didn’t know or doesn’t care that it’s dangerous. I’ve got family from Ireland and people used to buy homemade booze as cheaper way back in the day. You could get a bad batch and kill a few people back then too. I think whoever made it/ supplied it/ possibly hotel manager as bought it/ served it knowing it was illegal will get done for msnslaughter or equivalent.

If someone has knowingly put methanol in to something intended for human consumption, given that apparently as little as 25ml can be fatal, then why is not murder? It’s deliberate contamination with a well-known poisonous substance which can be fatal in small quantities.