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THE parents of a British teenager found dead at a Laos hostel where six tourists died after drinking “methanol-laced shots” fear their son may have been poisoned with dodgy booze.
Navy hopeful Lee Bartlett, 19, passed away at the Nana Backpacker Hostel on May 3, 2019, while two months into a “dream trip” backpacking around Asia.
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The roofer, from Rhoose near Barry, south west Wales, was found unresponsive in his bed by his friend Flynn Fawcett in the early hours of the morning.
He was taken to Vang Vieng Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
An inquest at Pontypridd Coroners’ Court at the time heard how Lee had not suffered any injuries and there was no evidence of assault or restraint.
Assistant Coroner Nadim Bashir was unable to determine a cause of death due to “insufficient evidence”.
Now Lee’s parents Mark and Helen fear their son may have been the first victim of suspected methanol-poisoning at the hostel.
Dad-of-four Mark, 57, told The Sun: “As soon as we saw the methanol poisonings on the news, it crossed our minds that the same thing might have happened to our son...
"We’ve always wondered exactly what went on, but we’ve never really been able to get to the bottom of it unfortunately.
“This has brought it all back for us. My wife has been awake until the early hours of the morning thinking about it. It’s one of those things that never goes away - it’s always there."
He added: “The loss of Lee absolutely devastated us. He was a great lad.”
Six backpackers staying at the hostel, including British lawyer Simone White, 28, have died over the past two weeks after reportedly drinking booze laced with the deadly chemical.
Doc who tried to save Laos ‘methanol shot’ victim reveals horror speed of poisoning tragedy
Up to 12 other travellers are still being treated in hospital.
Nana Backpacker offers free shots to guests for two hours every evening, but the manager and owner of the hostel, Duong Duc Toan, has denied responsibility for the deaths.
He said 100 guests were given vodka on the night of the recent “poisoning” but only a few fell ill.
Lee, who fell in love with South East Asia after his older sister got married in Thailand, met up with Flynn in Laos, where they checked into the now-notorious hostel.
Why is methanol so deadly?
METHANOL is a super-toxic version of alcohol that may be present in drinks if added by crooks to make them stronger or if they are brewed or distilled badly, writes The Sun's health correspondent Sam Blanchard.
The consequences can be devastating because as little as a single shot of contaminated booze could be deadly, with just 4ml of methanol potentially enough to cause blindness.
Prof Oliver Jones, a chemist at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, said: “The body converts methanol to formic acid.
“Formic acid blocks the action of an enzyme that is critical to how the body uses oxygen to generate energy.
“If it stops working, cells cannot take up or use oxygen from the blood and lack of oxygen causes problems in a range of organs as the cells start to die.
“Symptoms of methanol poisoning include vomiting, seizures and dizziness.
“The optic nerve seems to be particularly vulnerable to methanol toxicity, so there is the potential for temporary or permanent blindness, and even death.
“While thankfully rare, methanol poisoning is very serious, and treatment should be given at a hospital.”
An unexpected but key way of treating methanol poisoning is to get the patient drunk with normal alcohol - known as ethanol - to distract the liver and stop it processing the methanol.
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The night before his death they had gone to bed as normal, but when Flynn woke up at 6am, he noticed his pal was “breathing funny” and discovered him unresponsive with blue lips.
A UK post-mortem examination showed Lee had a slight thinning of the heart wall, but the results were “inconclusive” and the coroner reached an open conclusion.
Mark and nurse Helen, 56, will never know whether their son drank contaminated shots - but they believe police failed to properly investigate his death.
Defence contractor worker Mark said: “We never saw anything from the police in Laos. They just classed it as sudden death - a natural thing. I don’t think there was any investigation ever done.
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“We would’ve liked to have got some answers at the time, but there’s not a lot you can do in countries like that. They don’t really investigate anything - they just accept that these things happen and move on...
"Lee was a fit and healthy guy, so there was no real reason why he would suddenly die. We’ve always thought that there was something not quite right.”
Another traveller, who was staying in the hostel at the same time as Lee, told The Sun he was instructed by staff to help move the teen’s body out of the building and into a tuk-tuk to be taken to hospital, in front of his distraught pal.
The 42-year-old, who asked to remain anonymous, said local police didn’t turn up until five hours later and failed to interview him or any of the other guests.
He said the budget hotel “brushed over” details of Lee’s death with cops - leaving him feeling “complicit”.
He added: “I’ve thought about what happened a lot over time, it was disturbing. It felt like I had partaken in a cover-up. If I’d made more of a fuss about the situation at the time, maybe these six people wouldn’t have died.”
The film industry worker, from Slough, Bucks, who says he was offered a free night’s stay by staff as a thank you, believes Lee’s death was not the first at the hostel.
He said: “The only reason this has come to light now is because of the number of people who were affected this time. I find it hard to imagine it is the only time it has happened.”
Cops detained hostel owner Toan and a number of staff for questioning on Friday.
The hostel is closed while investigations continue.
Eight members of staff were then arrested on Monday as the Laos government said it would "bring the perpetrators to justice."
Staff at the hostel were accused of refusing to call an ambulance after one of the six victims had a seizure, The Sun previously reported.
Danish friends Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20, and Freja Vennervald, 21, died after they were left vomiting blood for 13 hours.
A witness told their friend, who is gathering crucial testimonies in Vang Vieng, what happened to one of these Danes at the hostel, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
The witness claimed a female employee massaged the girl's toes and feet and claimed she was having a panic attack, rather than call emergency services.
Australian friends Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles, both aged 19, who also stayed at the Nana Backpacker hostel died last week.
American man James Louis Hutson, 57, also died.
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English (US) · 