Methanol Cocktails Leave Two Australian Women Critically ill in Thailand

[Lorry]

On 11/19/2024 at 10:56 AM, mokwit said:

Is that possible? Fermentation produces Ethanol only, otherwise you wouldn't be able to drink wine or beer.

Fermentation of fruit also gives you methanol.

Apple liquor, stuff like that. 

 

If it's whiskey containing methanol, the methanol has been added.

[Lorry]

As others have noted, insurance companies will bring almost all patients from Vang Vieng to Udon or Bangkok.

 

Hospitals in Laos are very basic. The one in Vang Vieng is a better one, new, they do have doors, glass windows, an ambulance, they can handle basic stuff - but of course, not an ICU patient. 

 

The transfer to Thailand is often slow. For example,  not every insurance is able to get a helicopter in Laos (there is one).

Methanol intoxication requires fast treatment. If the doctor in Vang Vieng doesn't dare to give iv ethanol (= normal alcohol) - he has no diagnostic means to check for methanol -  and therapy is only started in Bangkok,  the patient probably won't survive. 

 

[mokwit]

9 hours ago, Lorry said:

Fermentation of fruit also gives you methanol.

Apple liquor, stuff like that. 

 

If it's whiskey containing methanol, the methanol has been added.

Yes, thanks. After researching it seems some fermentations do produce small amounts of methanol and it is also produced in a reaction with stills made from e.g. aluminium (bootlegger type stills). In distillation you also discard the initial lighter fraction which would contain any methanol.

 

It seems it is also wittingly or unwittingly (WRT dangers) added - presumably to increase potency.

Edited 3 hours ago by mokwit

[MicroB]

At uni, I once had  summer job as a kitchen porter (KP) in a hotel; it was a horrendous job, really. For a few of the KPs, this was their life. One had pinned down several shifts at various hotels, and could get himself quite a nice little car.

 

One was a pisshead. I asked him what his idea of a good night was. His answer was he'd start with a thimble of methylated spirits, and then after that, he'd just nurse a can of Special Brew, because it saved money.

[watchcat]

On 11/18/2024 at 5:11 AM, webfact said:

Two young Australian women, believed to be about 19 years old, are critically ill after consuming cocktails suspected to be laced with methanol while on holiday in Southeast Asia.

 

They where kids, nothing else.