Rozabeez RIP

[lantern]

Thank you for sharing. Poor Roz. At least by sharing her story on the forum, other people can be warned away from drinking alcohol from questionable sources here in Indonesia. (Or in most any country where regulation is poor - Egypt had a terrible problem with people going blind or dying from methanol poisoning, though it was usually local citizens and not tourists that we heard about.)

Also worth remembering that at times the establishment can appear pretty respectable but when they are offering a punch or a cocktail at very low prices, caution is recommended.

To add:

Backpacker blinded by Bali cocktail

[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial]DateAugust 3, 2012[/FONT][/COLOR]
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Emergency doctors are warning about the dangers of tainted cocktails in South-East Asia after a 19-year-old American woman was left with permanent visual impairment after consuming multiple drinks containing methanol.[/FONT]
[FONT=inherit]The backpacker drank eight to 10 complementary cocktails at two Bali bars and arrived in New Zealand 35 hours later suffering shortness of breath and impaired vision.[/FONT]
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The teenager was treated at Christchurch Hospital emergency department for methanol poisoning but her vision continued to deteriorate over the next four weeks.[/FONT]She had consumed a local drink known as Arrack, mixed with fruit juice.
http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-...803-23jp5.html[/FONT]
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[lantern]

As I'm on the subject... here's a story of an Australian rugby player who dies as a result of consuming a cocktail served at his hotel pool.


For those who think one or two wouldn't hurt:

[COLOR=#000000][FONT=arial]University of WA professor of medicine and pharmacology David Joyce said yesterday methanol was used only for industrial purposes in Australia.[/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000][FONT=arial]"Methanol is a very potent poison and it only takes the equivalent of one standard drink to blind you and not much more to kill you," he said.[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=arial]"In Australia it was even removed from methylated spirits a generation ago.[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=arial]"It interferes with the way the body can use oxygen to support itself.[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=arial]"The early events, beyond simple drunkenness, are that people can become very confused and they undergo a cardiovascular collapse. Blood pressure falls and their brain stops functioning and at that stage they are very difficult to retrieve. There are treatments but they have to be instituted very early."[/FONT][/COLOR]
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-...-rugby-player/

[Sky Garden]

An update:

[COLOR=#333333][FONT=Verdana]A 21-YEAR-OLD Kildare woman who became seriously ill and died in Bali had two days previously drank a locally brewed alcoholic drink that has made several other tourists very sick.[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#333333][FONT=Verdana]Roisin Burke, from Leixlip, County Kildare, died suddenly on Tuesday May 21, 2011, while on holidays with friends.[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#333333][FONT=Verdana]Her brother, Brian Burke, told the Coroners Court today that two days prior to her passing Roisin and a group of friends drank a locally brewed alcoholic drink known as ‘Arak wine’ at a bar in Lambok, Bali.[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#333333][FONT=Verdana]The following day Roisin and a friend reported feeling unwell but it was not until the next day that their symptoms became serious.[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#333333][FONT=Verdana]That day, the girls called a doctor to their apartment who administered a medicine.[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#333333][FONT=Verdana]Both girls initially reported relief form their symptoms but this proved to be only temporary and later in the day Roisin began to have convulsions.[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#333333][FONT=Verdana]Medics were unable to revive Roisin.[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#333333][FONT=Verdana]The other girl was admitted to hospital and, fortunately, made a full recovery within a week or so.[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#333333][FONT=Verdana]Brian said it had come to the family’s attention that a number of tourists in the Bali Gili Islands area have been victims of “methanol poisoning due to the unregulated nature of the local brewing industry, where it is common practice to add methanol to in particular Arak wine”
http://www.independent.ie/national-n...d-3300949.html[/FONT][/COLOR]

I seen this yesterday also Lantern, such a shame, so young. One question, why has it taken so long? Poor girl passed away nearly 18 months ago.

[Hombre de Maiz]

Have any arrests, prosecution and convictions for at least manslaughter been achieved in any of these cases? You'd be surprised how the (dis-)incentive structure is radically modified once convictions and prosecution become a tangible reality. Again, none of this is rocket science or brain surgery...

[lantern]

I seen this yesterday also Lantern, such a shame, so young. One question, why has it taken so long? Poor girl passed away nearly 18 months ago.

In Ireland there is an inquest, which is like a public enquiry, into all unusual or unexplained deaths. I'm not sure why it took so long.

[lantern]

Have any arrests, prosecution and convictions for at least manslaughter been achieved in any of these cases? You'd be surprised how the (dis-)incentive structure is radically modified once convictions and prosecution become a tangible reality. Again, none of this is rocket science or brain surgery...

This is a comment from a Swedish woman whose daughter dies in similar circumstances.

"[COLOR=#000000][FONT=arial]In many instances these poisonings go unreported because locals are afraid to name the powerful local poisoners. There are travel warnings on the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs web site, Dutch and British Foreign Office travel advisories and Lonely Planet web site.The only medical assistance available to my daughter except for some really wonderful fellow tourists was a local "doctor" who did not know how to perform CPR and who carried a coconut as his medical kit. We have eye witness reports of bar staff topping up bottles of well known spirits from unmarked plastic bottles. This was not a case of naive tourists taking a risk for a cheap drink. This is wanton killing with no hope of any justice."
[/FONT][/COLOR]http://www.thelocal.se/41748/20120630/

[MadCat]

Stuff like this is why I've parted ways with liquor and stick to beer out of a bottle or a can.

[lantern]

Stuff like this is why I've parted ways with liquor and stick to beer out of a bottle or a can.

Liquor is too darn expensive in bars anyway.