Father of teen who died in Laos poisonings tells BBC she was full of life

The father of 19-year-old Holly Bowles, who died of suspected methanol poisoning in Laos last month, has said he was in “disbelief” when he realised his daughter would not pull through.

Speaking to the BBC, Shaun Bowles described Holly as “everything you’d want your daughter to be”.

The Australian teenager had been travelling across South East Asia with her best friend Bianca Jones when they fell ill after drinking alcohol thought to be contaminated with methanol, a toxic substance sometimes added to bootleg drinks.

They were among six foreign tourists to die over a few days in the small, riverside tourist town of Vang Vieng.

“They were having an unbelievable time, just having so much fun, doing what two 19-year-old girls should be doing,” Shaun Bowles told the BBC’s Today Programme.

The grieving process, he said, has been made more manageable by the fact that he is “best friends” with Bianca’s father, Mark.

Together, Mark and Shaun had travelled through Thailand on their own backpacking trip 25 years ago.

“It’s just bizarre to be going through the same thing with your best friend. Just being together and just talking helps us get through the days,” he said.

Holly and Bianca had planned their trip to celebrate their graduation from school.

Since they’d been away, Shaun had spoken to his daughter every few days, while Holly’s mother, Sam, had spoken to her “every second”.

“They were just having an absolute blast,” he said.

The two 19-year-olds were taken to hospital after they failed to check out of the Nana Backpacker hostel, where they were staying, and were found unresponsive.

Shaun and his family received news they were unwell through a friend – and the two mothers flew out to Thailand that night.

“When you’re getting second hand information… it was really hard to process exactly what sort of condition that they were in,” said Shaun.

He and Bianca’s father, Mark, flew out the next day, by which point the girls were in a hospital in Udon Thani, over the border from Laos in Thailand.

Bianca died on 21 November, and Holly a day later.

“She was just full of life. She was confident, she was loving, she was just a true friend of people. She was everything you want your daughter to be,” said Shaun.

Now, Shaun says, his focus is on raising awareness of methanol poisoning to other young people backpacking through South East Asia.

“We absolutely want whoever is responsible for this brought to account and brought to justice, and we’re going to do everything that we can to make sure that is the case,” he says.

The other four victims have been named as Simone White, a 28-year-old lawyer from the UK; James Louis Hutson, a 57-year-old American; and Danish citizens Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20, and Freja Vennervald Sorensen, 21.

Eight people have been arrested in connection with the case.