A WOMAN who survived the vodka poisoning in Laos that killed six people was left feeling paralysed after drinking shots.
Bethany Clarke was close pals with Simone White and met the lawyer in Southeast Asia to explore the country.
Bethany survived the poisoning that killed pal Simone[/caption]
Sue told 60 Minutes she had to end her daughter’s life herself[/caption]
But it all went horribly wrong, with Bethany telling 60 Minutes Australia they both unknowingly drank the methanol-laced shots that would kill Simone.
The pair were served the free drinks with pals at the Nana Backpackers Hostel in traveller hotspot Vang Vieng.
They each drank six shots, with Bethany saying she watched the bartender pour them and had no clue herself about the poison.
She said the pair woke up feeling incredibly lethargic and only slightly ill.
Bethany said she woke up feeling “not that bad, I didn’t think anything bad was going to happen”.
But now she thinks that was part of the methanol poisoning.
She said: “You just physically can’t move, you’re more or less paralysed.
“You can still walk but everything is much, much, much more difficult than it would be ordinarily.”
But her symptoms became worse and Bethany started feeling nauseous, incredibly fatigued, and she even feinted.
The pair were taken to hospital by other travellers, where Simone began to have seizures and could no longer breath on her own.
Simone would need brain seizure, a surgeon decided, and so Bethany called her friend’s mother Sue at 2am UK time.
Sue said: “It was dreadful it was probably the worst experience of my life, absolutely horrific.”
Bethany was alive for three days on life support in the Laos hospital.
Doctors refused to switch it off due to their religion but told Sue she could do it herself.
Simone was a lawyer in London travelling in Laos[/caption]
Sue had to take a tube out of her dying daughter’s mouth and then make an incredibly painful and “traumatic” decision.
Simone’s inquest heard the tourist died of methanol toxicity and an intracranial haemorrhage.
Bethany has made a full recovery, despite drinking the same number of shots as Simone.
She said it has been difficult coming to terms that she survived while Simone died.
Bethany said: “I think we’ve just had to try and get through the funeral and obviously we want to try and spread awareness and make sure other people don’t have to go through this.
“And then I can sort of start on my own journey of trying to come to terms with it all.”
Eight employees at Nana Backpackers Hostel were arrested over the poisoning, but all were released from custody.
No charges have been laid for the six deaths.
One pal claimed staff refused to call an ambulance and a female worker massaged the toes and feet of one of the Danish women while she was having a seizure.
Danish friends Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20, and Freja Vennervald, 21, died after they were left vomiting blood for 13 hours.
The poisoned tourists had been at the Nana backpackers hostel[/caption]
Nana Backpackers[/caption]
