The father of an Australian teenager who died from suspected alcohol poisoning while backpacking through Laos has shared his determination to receive justice.
Shaun Bowles said he was in “disbelief” when he realised his 19-year-old daughter Holly would not survive, after she and her best friend became violently ill after drinking alcohol believed to have been laced with the toxic substance methanol.
Speaking to the BBC, Mr Bowles said his daughter was “everything you’d want your daughter to be”, who had been travelling through South East Asia to celebrate her graduation from school.
She and Bianca Jones, also 19, were among six foreign tourists to die after consuming alcohol in the small town of Vang Vieng. Eight people have been arrested in connection with the case, including the manager of the Nana Backpackers Hostel, where many of the victims had been staying.
“They were having an unbelievable time, just having so much fun, doing what two 19-year-old girls should be doing,” Mr Bowles said.
The two had been have an “absolute blast” before they were rushed to hospital after being found unresponsive in their hotel room.
After receiving news that the girls were unwell, both of their mothers flew to Thailand that evening, with Mr Bowles and his best friend, Bianca’s father Mark, travelling the next day.
“When you’re getting second hand information... it was really hard to process exactly what sort of condition that they were in,” said Mr Bowles.
Despite the best efforts of medical staff, Bianca died on 21 November and Holly died a day later.
“She was just full of life. She was confident, she was loving, she was just a true friend of people. She was everything you want your daughter to be,” said Mr Bowles .
His focus is now on raising awareness of methanol poisoning to other young people backpacking through South East Asia.
“We absolutely want whoever is responsible for this brought to account and brought to justice, and we’re going to do everything that we can to make sure that is the case,” he says.
A 28-year-old British lawyer was among those who died, with her parents also making the distressing journey to Laos after receiving a call that she was gravely unwell.
Simone White, from Orpington in south London, had been holidaying with friends when she became ill after drinking the same alcohol, and died in hospital after her brain function deteriorated.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, her mother Sue White urged those travelling abroad: “Please be careful when it comes to drinks.”
“Simone was a university-educated, highly intelligent person,” she said.
“If it can happen to her, it can happen to anybody.”
