Two teenage girls from Melbourne are reportedly fighting for their lives in Thailand after drinking what are believed to be poisoned cocktails in Laos.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Well, these two 19-year-old girls from Melbourne were traveling around Southeast Asia with
00:06a group of friends.
00:07They'd just arrived in Vang Vien, which is a popular party town in Laos, just north of
00:13the capital, Vientiane.
00:14They were staying at a backpacker's hostel there, and I spoke to the hostel owner.
00:19He said that last Tuesday night they had gone out on the town, they'd had some drinks at
00:24a bar nearby, and a few hours later they were feeling quite unwell.
00:29In the early hours of Wednesday morning, they were quite sick, and they were transported
00:34to the local hospital.
00:36I spoke to a doctor there who saw them, who said that they were in quite a bad way by
00:39that point.
00:40Particularly one of the girls, she was dizzy, she had blurred vision, she was having chest
00:46pains, difficulty breathing, and ultimately she ended up having a seizure and passing
00:51out.
00:52And at that point, both of the girls were transported to Vientiane, and then on to Thailand,
00:58two separate hospitals, one in Udon Thani, which is in the country's northeast, and the
01:03other here in Bangkok, where they both still remain, from my understanding.
01:08Now they're not the only ones who were caught up in this either.
01:12It's understood that at least two people have died, and a dozen more have fallen ill after
01:18drinking what's believed to be cocktails laced with methanol.
01:23Now methanol is a clear liquid chemical that is often deliberately and illegally added
01:30to drinks as a cheaper substitute for ethanol, and it's extremely dangerous.
01:36It can be deadly even in very small quantities.
01:38Just a single shot can be fatal.
01:41So this is an extremely dangerous and potent chemical, and we saw the impacts of that here
01:46in Bangkok just a few months ago.
01:49There was a case where six people died and another 31 ended up hospitalised after drinking
01:54a local liquor that was spiked with methanol.
01:58So this is serious stuff, and there are lots of warnings now coming from fellow travellers
02:03but also from authorities to know what you're drinking, to try to avoid any drinks that
02:09could be laced with methanol.
02:11Now the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has confirmed that it's offering consular
02:16assistance to both of these Australians and their families and says that their thoughts
02:21are with these families at this extremely distressing time.