{"id":20042,"date":"2024-12-01T16:44:29","date_gmt":"2024-12-01T16:44:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=20042"},"modified":"2024-12-01T16:44:29","modified_gmt":"2024-12-01T16:44:29","slug":"mothers-terrible-journey-to-bedside-of-british-woman-poisoned-in-laos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=20042","title":{"rendered":"Mother's 'terrible journey' to bedside of British woman poisoned in Laos"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"PAPA Media<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Simone White was one of several people poisoned in a backpacker hotspot in Laos<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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“If it can happen to her, it can happen to anybody”, the mother of British lawyer Simone White, who died in a suspected poisoning in Laos, has warned.<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old, from Orpington, south-east London, was one of a number of people taken to hospital after drinking alcohol suspected to have been laced with methanol in the backpacking hotspot Vang Vieng.<\/p>\n

Six tourists died in the incident. <\/p>\n

Speaking to the Sunday Times, her mother Sue White urged those travelling abroad: “Please be careful when it comes to drinks.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“Simone was a university-educated, highly intelligent person,” she said. <\/p>\n

“If it can happen to her, it can happen to anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

‘I knew she was going to die’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Ms White told the paper she received a call from the hospital caring for Simone to say she was in a critical condition after drinking contaminated vodka and needed urgent brain surgery.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew when I had that phone call \u2014 I don\u2019t know what it was, call it a mother\u2019s intuition \u2014 but I knew that she was going to die,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She described how she set off on a 16-hour journey to her daughter’s bedside, which she said was a “terrible, terrible journey”.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to go through the whole flight thinking she was going through brain surgery.”<\/p>\n

Ms White said she arrived at the hospital just as Simone was being taken in for the operation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was horrendous. Absolutely horrendous.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe had such beautiful long blonde hair, which had all been shaved off for the operation. It was the worst experience of my life. There are no words, really.\u201d<\/p>\n

It later became clear that her brain function had gone, and she died on 21 November.<\/p>\n

Her body is reportedly due to be repatriated this weekend, ahead of her funeral.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Australians Holly Bowles and her friend Bianca Jones were among the six tourists to die as a result of the poisoning incident<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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On the night she fell ill, Simone and her friends drank six vodka shots served by <\/b>Nana Backpackers hostel, <\/b>according to the newspaper.<\/p>\n

Their drinks are thought to have contained methanol – a deadly substance often found in bootleg alcohol.<\/a><\/p>\n

Medical specialists say drinking as little as 25 millilitres of methanol can be fatal, but it is sometimes added to drinks because it is cheaper than alcohol.<\/p>\n

Simone’s two childhood friends who were travelling with her survived the experience, but are said to be traumatised.<\/p>\n

Police in Laos have detained several people in connection with the death of Simone White and five others.<\/p>\n

However, officials in the country have released almost no details about the case, with the government keeping a tight lid on information.<\/p>\n

Laos is a one-party communist state with no organised opposition. <\/p>\n

Simone was a lawyer with global law firm Squire Patton Boggs. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Source: <\/em> www.bbc.com\u2026<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PA Media Simone White was one of several people poisoned in a backpacker hotspot in Laos “If it can happen to her, it can happen to anybody”, the mother of British lawyer Simone White, who died in a suspected poisoning in Laos, has warned. The 28-year-old, from Orpington, south-east London, was one of a number […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20042\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}