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Original poster

Laos Methanol Poisining

57 replies

girlfriend44 · 22/11/2024 19:58

Not seen anything on MN about it.
AIBU to not understand what's going on?
Where the bars and clubs not aware the drinks were deadly, or was it deliberate?

What a horrible thing to happen to these young people!😱

OP posts:
warofthetimemachines · 22/11/2024 20:09

Methanol poisoning is the reason that it’s illegal to distill your own spirits in many places, even where it’s legal to brew your own beer for example.

ssd · 22/11/2024 20:08

Absolutely awful. So tragic for everyone involved.

LoremIpsumCici · 22/11/2024 20:08

Yes YABU to not understand what is going on. The dangers of homemade spirits and counterfeit spirits have been common knowledge since the hey dey of backpacking Asia & SE Asia in the 1970s.

Parents should be telling their DC don’t drink anything that isn’t in a single serving sealed can or bottle that you open yourself.

doodleschnoodle · 22/11/2024 20:04

Bootleg alcohol in a youth hostel wasn't it? They gave out free shots. Presumably they bought some cheap 'alcohol' somewhere.

warofthetimemachines · 22/11/2024 20:04

My understanding is that the usual thing that happens with methanol contamination of alcoholic beverages is that either they’ve been mixing in a little methanol because it’s cheap and they accidentally put too much in so the drinks contained a lethal dose, or someone made home-distilled spirits and the chemistry went a bit wrong and they ended up making some methanol along with the ethanol.
Either way, it’s not necessarily a case of deliberately trying to hurt or kill people, but could well be people trying to maximize profit with very dangerous and completely reckless practices.

Stopandlook · 22/11/2024 20:01

Really sad. I don’t think it was deliberate as in murder but was definitely intentional use of methanol to make cheap alcohol. It could happen to anyone travelling- just awful.

BendingSpoons · 22/11/2024 20:01

I thought it was bootleg alcohol. So made cheaply to make a profit, rather than being a deliberate attempt to harm.

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