In November 2024, I lost my childhood best friend, Simone White, after we unknowingly drank methanol-laced vodka at a hostel in Laos. We’d only had a few drinks that evening, but within 48 hours, Simone was in a coma. She suffered catastrophic brain damage and her mum had to make the unimaginable decision to turn off her life support.

Simone was just one of six travellers who died that week. Five other travellers including Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20, Freja Vennervald Sorensen, 21, James Louis Hutson, 57, Bianca Jones, 19 and Holly Bowles, 19 died after drinking the same drinks provided by the hostel. Others were left blind or severely traumatised. None of us had any idea that the drinks were dangerous. They looked normal. Tasted normal. There were no warnings. And that’s the problem.

Methanol poisoning is a silent killer, a highly toxic chemical found in counterfeit or bootleg alcohol, especially in countries with unregulated alcohol industries. As little as one or two tablespoons can cause blindness, brain damage, or death. Most travellers have no idea this risk even exists.

That’s why I’m calling on the UK and Australian Transport and Education Ministers to implement three life-saving measures:

• Airport safety reforms: Introduce visible signage, printed leaflets and staffed information points in airports to educate travellers about the risks of methanol poisoning in high-risk destinations.
• Airline in-flight magazine warnings: Include information about methanol poisoning within airlines' in-flight magazine with advice about the symptoms, treatment and safer drinking options, for example: beer or in-flight/airport duty free spirits.
• School curriculum change: Add methanol awareness to classes in schools. Young people must be taught the dangers of consuming bootleg alcohol before they begin travelling or drinking abroad.

These simple measures could save lives and prevent more families from going through what Simone’s family and I endured.

Simone and I didn’t do anything reckless. We trusted our hostel, just like thousands of other young travellers do every day. No one warned us. No one informed us that methanol posed a risk. That has to change.

If a single sign in the airport or a 5-minute classroom lesson could have prevented Simone’s death, then we owe it to her and every other traveller to make that change now.