BBC News
When Calum McDonald reached the Vietnamese border, he could not read administrative forms in front of him. He could see that there was a blind polymer light.
He had stepped out of a bus at night with his friends from the popular tourist destination of Wang Vieng in Laos.
A day earlier, the group was living in a hostel, where guests were offered free whiskey and vodka shots. Callum was mixing them with soft drinks.
It was only on the border when he suspected that something could go wrong from his point of view – which he told his friends.
,[We agreed] It was strange, but we thought that it was food poisoning and the light I was seeing was some kind of sensitivity, “he explains the BBC breakfast.
But when he reached his destination in Vietnam, it was clear that something was seriously wrong.
“We were sitting in the hotel room, my friend and me, and I told him: ‘Why are we sitting in the dark? Someone should be highlighted.” “Roshni was already there.
The 23 -year -old Callum is now blind and tells his story for the first time. He was one of many victims Mass methanol toxicity in wang viang last November.
Six people died. Callum knew two of them – he met Danish girls out of one night.
All the city’s maternal grandfather was living in the backpacker hostels.
Calum is now working with families of three other British people, who died after methanol poisoning in Southeast Asia.
They are asking the Foreign Office to clarify about the dangers that face people when booking holidays in countries where methanol poisoning is a concern.
Simone was white One of those people,
The next day after Callum left Wang Wieng, Simone drank free shots in the hostel. Earlier, he had sent a text message to his mother, stating that it was the best holiday that she was ever.
Simone was admitted to the hospital in the next days and a friend called his mother Suu to inform him what happened. Later, she again says that Simone was in a coma.
Suu immediately booked a flight, but, before she flew, she found another call from a doctor from a doctor in the middle of the night who was treating Simone.
,[He said] You need to allow immediate brain surgery or she is not going alive …
“I flew out the next day, knowing that she was undergoing surgery and I had the biggest hope to be honest.”
28 year old Death in hospital due to methanol poisoning,
Suu says, “Whatever has happened is very difficult to come with it.” “Nothing is not going to bring Simone back.”
Methanol is a type of alcohol that is commonly found in cleaning products, fuels, and antifier eser. It is similar to ethanol, which is used for alcoholic beverages, but it is more toxic for humans. The way it is processed by the body.
If they are poorly manufactured, alcoholic beverages may be contaminated with methanol.
This is a known problem with affordable souls in Southeast Asia, where hundreds of people are poisoned every year, according to charity doctors without borders (MSF).
If you consume one of these contaminated drinks and affect methanol poisoning, symptoms may include dizziness, fatigue, headache and nausea.
For many people it looks similar to a common hangover, making it difficult to know if you have been poisoned or there are just some too much drinks.
After 12–48 hours, more severe problems can emerge like seizures and blurred vision. In severe cases, it can give rise to total blindness and leave the victims in a coma.
MSF says that 30 ml methanol can be fatal to humans.
If diagnosed within 10–30 hours after consumption, methanol poisoning can be successfully treated with dialysis.
Kirsty McKi, 38, died in 2022, but was not the result of accepting free shots.
She was enjoying a drink at home with a friend before a night in Bali -Indonesian Island, where she had been living and working for eight years.
Her friend, Sonia Taylor said that both of them felt that the next day Kirsty had a particularly bad hangover before he was taken to the hospital for treatment.
Sonia also drank contaminated liquor, but survived.
Sonia says, “We had no idea.” “It has probably been the most difficult part for me, don’t know why you live and someone else dies … it seems that there is no poem or reason why.”
On Sumatra, another Indonesian island, cheznye emmons Died after drinking Later it was found to be 66,000 times the legal limit for methanol in the drink.
Cheznye’s mother Pamela told the BBC: “I think it’s the worst part about that … [was] Before she started getting a fit when she reached the hospital for the first time, she said to her lover: ‘I am really scared.’
“And it was originally the last time [she spoke],
Calum’s advice to tourists is normally free drinks and souls to avoid souls. “There are a lot of cute beer in South-East Asia, which I am sure people will really enjoy.”
He says that learning about the death of two Danish girls found in Wang Wiying changed his attitude about their blindness.
“The way I am that I am [had] It was to deal with this to bury my head in the sand … I really felt it, in many ways, my life was not worth living. ,
Calum is now learning to use a cane and hopes to apply for a guide dog soon.
He adds: “[The deaths] I realized that I was very lucky and I felt very grateful that, although some of my difficult results, many people made it worse.
“I felt, seeing that I was lucky enough to survive, I have the same responsibility to stop the same thing from being with other people.”
The Foreign Office described methanol poisoning and fake liquor as “serious problems in parts of the world” and said it was working with local authorities and traveling industry to deal with the issue.
“We want to clarify the risk for British people traveling abroad and we raise awareness through our travel advice and Travel conscious campaign,
