Hostel didn’t ‘contaminate’ drinks before British backpacker died, inquest finds

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.

White and her friend Bethany Clarke had been travelling together (Picture: Facebook)

‘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.

Speaking via video link, Sarah Price from the consular assistance department at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said she feared no new information ‘might appear’.

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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