The man saw a kaleidoscopic light before

When Kalum McDonald arrived at the Vietnam border, he could not read the administrative forms in front of him. All he could see was Kaleidoscopic Dazzling Light.

He had just got off a bus overnight with his friends from the popular tourist destination Wang Vieng in Laos.

The group had stayed in Hostel the previous day, where the guests were offered free whiskey and vodka photos. Kalum mixed them with soft drinks.

It wasn’t until the border that he suspected that something could not be wrong with his gaze – which he told his friends.

“I remember that I had this kind of kaleidoscopic, dazzling light in my eyes and until I could see anything.

“(We agreed) was strange, but we decided it was a nutritional poisoning and the light I saw was some sensitivity,” he told BBC Breakfast.

But when they arrived at their destination in Vietnam, it was clear that something serious was wrong.

“We were sitting in the hotel room, my friends and I, and I told them,” Why are we sitting in the dark? Someone has to turn on light. “” The lights were already on.

The 23 -year -old Kalum is already blind and tells her story for the first time. He was one of the several victims of a Massive Methanol poisoning in Wang Vieng Last November.

Six people were killed. Kalum knew two of them – Danish girls who had met at night.

They were all staying at the Nana backpack hostel in the city.

Now Kalum works with the families of three other British people who died after methanol poisoning in Southeast Asia.

They are urging the Ministry of the Ministry to be more clear to the dangers of people when they book holidays in countries where methanol poisoning is a problem.

Simone White was one of these peopleS

On the day after Kalum left Wang Vieng, Simone drinks free shots at the hostel. Earlier, she sent a text message to Mom saying that this was the best holiday she had ever been to.

Simone was admitted to a hospital in the coming days and a girlfriend called her mother Sue to inform her of the incident. Later, she called again to say that Simone was in a coma.

Sue immediately booked a flight, but before she could take off, she received another call in the middle of a night from a Laos doctor who was healing Simone.

“(He said) you must give permission for emergency brain surgery or it will not survive …

“I took off the next day, knowing that she was going through surgery and was expecting the worst to be honest.”

28-year-old He died in hospital from methanol poisoningS

“It’s very difficult to put up with what happened,” Sue says. “Nothing will return Simone.”

Methanol is a type of alcohol that is usually found in cleaning products, fuel and antifreeze. It is similar to ethanol, which is used for alcoholic beverages but is more toxic to humans because of the way it is processed by the body.

Alcoholic beverages can be contaminated with methanol if produced poorly.

This is a well -known problem with cheap spirits in Southeast Asia, where hundreds of people poison each year, according to charity doctors without borders (MSF).

If you consume one of these contaminated drinks and suffer from methanol poisoning, symptoms may include dizziness, fatigue, headache and nausea.

For many people, it feels like a normal hangover, which makes it difficult to find out if you have been poisoned or just drank a few too many drinks.

After 12-48 hours, more serious problems such as seizures and blurred vision may occur. In severe cases, this can lead to complete blindness and leave coma sufferers.

Only 30 ml of methanol can be fatal to humans, says MSF.

If diagnosed within 10-30 hours of consumption, methanol poisoning can be successfully treated with dialysis.

Krasti Maki, 38 -year -old, died in 2022, but this is not the result of taking free photos.

She enjoyed drinking at home with a friend before the night in Bali, the Indonesian island, where she lived and worked for eight years.

Her girlfriend Sonia Taylor said that they both feel like they had a particularly bad hangover the next day before Krasty was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Sonia had also drank polluted alcohol, but he survived.

“We had no idea,” Sonia says. “This is probably the most difficult part for me without knowing why you live and someone else is dying … It seems that there is no rhyme or reason why.”

On Sumatra, another Indonesian island, Cheznye Emmons died after drinking It was later found to contain 66,000 times larger than the legal border for methanol in drinks.

Cewy Pamela’s mother tells the BBC: “I think the youngest part of this … (it was) just before she started to adapt when she first arrived at the hospital, she told her boyfriend,” I’m really really scared. ”

“And that was mostly the last time (she talks).”

Kalum’s tips for tourists are to avoid free drinks and spirits in general. “There are many wonderful beers in Southeast Asia, which I am sure people would really be glad.”

He says the study of the death of the two Danish girls, whom he met in Wang Vieng, changed his view of his blindness.

“Part of the way I (I) dealt with him was to bury my head in the sand … I really felt like in many ways my life was not worth living.”

Now Kalum learns to use a cane and hopes to apply for a guide dog soon.

He added: “(Death) made me realize that I was very lucky and felt very grateful that although I had some difficult consequences, many people had it worse.

“I felt, considering that I was lucky to survive, I had a little responsibility to try to prevent the same thing to happen to other people.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs describes the poisoning of methanol and falsifying alcohol as a “serious problem in some parts of the world” and said it works with local authorities and the tourism industry to deal with the problem.

“We strive to clarify the risks to British people traveling abroad and raise awareness through our travel tips and Travel awareness campaignS “