The Foreign Office is urging UK travellers to ‘avoid’
UK travellers continue to be warned(Image: Daniel Garrido via Getty Images)
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has issued a stark warning to British holidaymakers, urging travellers to stay safe while abroad.
In a recent update on X, formerly Twitter, the FCDO said: “Free drinks aren’t worth the risk. To help reduce the risk of methanol poisoning abroad, avoid free cocktails or shots, unlabelled bottles, and unusually cheap or discounted drinks claiming to be brand-name alcohol.”
The FCDO is raising awareness following the deaths of several British travellers who consumed alcohol contaminated with methanol while overseas.
Simone White, 28, was among six fatalities following the consumption of free shots at the Nana Backpacker Hostel in Vang Vieng, Laos, in November 2024. Cheznye Emmons, 23, lost her life to methanol poisoning in April 2013 after unknowingly drinking tainted counterfeit gin in Bukit Lawang, northern Sumatra, Indonesia.
Kirsty McKie, 38, died in 2022 after inadvertently ingesting the substance while at home with a friend in Bali, where she had lived for eight years. As little as 10ml of methanol can result in blindness, while 30ml can prove fatal.
TravelAware warns: “In some parts of the world methanol products are sometimes illegally mixed with ‘real’ alcohol such as spirit-based drinks and cocktails.”
Holidaymakers are advised only to buy alcoholic drinks from licensed venues, bars and hotels, to avoid homemade alcoholic beverages, check bottle seals haven’t been tampered with, and look out for poor quality labels or spelling errors.
You should also get urgent medical help if you or anyone in your travel group falls ill after drinking alcohol. Early symptoms of methanol poisoning include impaired judgement, loss of balance, and drowsiness.
Between 12 and 48 hours after consumption, you may suffer abdominal pain, dizziness, hyperventilation, breathlessness, blurred vision and/or blindness, coma, and seizures. If you or anyone travelling with you experiences these symptoms, seek urgent medical attention.
Visual problems are a particularly significant warning sign, especially blurred vision, sensitivity to bright lights, and in some cases complete blindness. “Snowfield vision” (seeing snowy static resembling an old television) or tunnel vision may also occur.
If you experience any of these symptoms, seek urgent medical help.