Get you up to speed: Laos detains hostel owner as investigation into methanol poisoning continues
Simone White, a 28-year-old British lawyer from Orpington, Kent, died in a hospital in Laos on November 21, 2024, after consuming drinks served at the Nana Backpacker Hostel. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) reported that there is no evidence of contamination by hostel workers, and an investigation into the distillery owner and factory workers is ongoing.
An investigation into the death of Simone White, who died from suspected methanol poisoning in Laos, is ongoing, with charges referred to prosecutors against the factory distillery owner, according to Assistant Coroner Sebastian Naughton. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) have stated that there is “no evidence that the hostel workers were involved in contaminating the drink with methanol.”
An investigation into the distillery owner and factory workers involved in the production of the drink consumed by Simone White and the other victims is ongoing, with charges being referred to prosecutors under Laos criminal law. The Assistant Coroner, Sebastian Naughton, intends to wait for the outcomes of this investigation before holding a full inquest, with a pre-inquest review hearing scheduled for six months if no new information emerges.
Inquest finds hostel didn’t ‘contaminate’ drinks where British backpacker died | News World
Kent native Simone White was rushed to the hospital after drinking free drinks in a hostel (Picture: PA)
A British backpacker who died from methanol poisoning in Laos did not have her drinks ‘contaminated’ by hostel workers, an inquest has heard.
Simone White, 28, from Orpington, Kent, was one of several people taken to hospital while she had been staying in the popular backpacking town of Vang Vieng.
She died in the hospital on November 21, 2024, along with five other people who died after consuming free drinks served at the Nana Backpacker Hostel – two Australian teenagers, an American and two Danish tourists.
Assistant coroner for South London, Sebastian Naughton, told South London Coroners’ Court that Australian Federal Police (AFP), who have been investigating the case, have ‘advised there is no evidence that the hostel workers were involved in contaminating the drink with methanol’.
Mr Naughton said an investigation into the distillery owner and factory workers involved with the production of the drink is still ongoing.
She and her friend Bethany Clarke had been travelling together (Picture: Facebook)
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‘The investigators have referred charges to prosecutors under the Laos criminal law for various articles for the factory distillery owner, based on test results from various samples from the hostel and the factory and information provided by the AFP,’ he added.
The update came through an overseas crime agency based in Vietnam and covering Laos.
Mr Naughton first told the hearing he intended to wait for the outcome of the investigation into the distillery before holding a full inquest.
She told the inquest the FCDO has received one form of formal written communication from the Laos authorities in the entire process, and said the government is ‘closed and secretive’.
She added: ‘It’s very unlikely that we will get any documentation,’ referencing the distillery case.
Simone died in 2024 after consuming a drink in Laos (Picture: Facebook)
Speaking to Neil White, a relative of Ms White, during Monday’s hearing, Mr Naughton acknowledged the ‘frustration from Simone’s family at the delays and lack of an investigation of the criminal process in Laos.’
He said: ‘It is quite usual in this court for deaths overseas tragically to be delayed pending investigations and sometimes different legal processes taking place in other countries.’
Mr Naughton requested an update with any new information in five months from Ms Price and Detective Sergeant Peter Duke, from the Joint International Crime Centre, who was also at the hearing.
If there is new information, another pre-inquest review hearing will be held in six months.
However, if there is no new information, a full inquest will instead be scheduled within that same timeframe, when Mr Naughton will call the pathologist who carried out the post-mortem examination of Ms White to answer questions on methanol poisoning.
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