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A British grandmother claims she blacked out and ended up roaming her hotel naked for hours after drinking from a 'spiked' bucket of alcohol in Thailand.
Janet West, 61, recalled her harrowing ordeal in Bangkok amid ongoing investigations into the deaths of six tourists in nearby Laos, in what is believed to be a mass incident of methanol poisoning from shots and booze buckets.
The mother-of-two from Swansea, Wales, celebrated the Thai New Year on the city's famous Khaosan Road, drinking what she thought was whisky and coke from a bucket.
She said that after going to bed she thought she dreamt about being escorted back to her room by hotel staff.
But she later discovered it wasn't a dream - they told her she had been wandering around naked for four hours.
'I was lucky to survive and to have no side effects but I'm frightened to drink the local spirits in Thailand now,' said Janet.
'The local alcohol is not distilled properly and, although it's cheap, it's not worth the risk - stick to imported spirits or bottled beer.'
Janet, now retired, visited Thailand for the local new year celebrations in April 2019, and has been travelling the world solo since 2022, but says the incident has made her think twice about drinking in the region.
Janet, who formerly worked in the army and in a bar, said that she visited the country again in 2023, but rarely drinks out there now.
Recalling the night she suspects she was poisoned, she says she was later told by staff she walked naked out of the room she was sharing with her boyfriend shortly after going to sleep.
She later recalled she believed she was a pregnant teenager and had to get transport to a special delivery unit.
She came to when hotel staff noticed her trying to leave the building and ushered her back up to her room, she was later told.
She said: 'On that visit we were buying buckets of whisky and coke but I haven't a clue what we were really drinking.
'Afterwards people told me it was ethanol, because of the incomplete distillation process.'
She said other tourists had warned her about people dying or going blind after drinking from the buckets of cheap booze.
'It's really difficult because shots are just poured down your neck in Thailand.
'They just knock on your door shouting 'free shots', and nobody questions them.
'I feel so sad for the unfortunate travellers in Laos, and so disgusted with the people who made the alcohol and sold it.'
Six people including a British student died after swallowing drinks believed to have been mixed with methanol - a cheap, toxic substance used to 'bulk out' alcoholic drinks.
Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk
