British gran, 61, roams hotel naked in Thailand after drinking from bucket of 'spiked alcohol'; mother-of-two from Swansea says she is 'lucky to survive'

Janet West, 61, recalled her harrowing ordeal in Bangkok amid ongoing investigations into the deaths of six tourists in nearby Laos. 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.

She said: “I was lucky to survive and to have no side effects but I'm frightened to drink the local spirits in Thailand now. 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. 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 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.”

Janet said staff she she was likely drinking ethanol laced drinks that night. Six backpackers died of suspected methanol poisoning last year in Laos - including two Australians and one British woman.

Melbourne teenagers Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles, both aged 19, were among six foreign tourists who died after falling ill while holidaying in Vang Vieng, a popular tourist town 129km north of Vientiane. British lawyer Simone White, 28, two Danish women Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20, and Frela Vennervald Sorensen, 21, US man James Louis Hutson, 57, also died from after drinking contaminated drinks.

SmartTraveller updated its latest travel advice for Laos on November 19 warning Australians to avoid the drinks because of “serious safety concerns”. It read: “Lao authorities have issued an order prohibiting the sale and consumption of Tiger Vodka and Tiger Whisky due to their concerns about these products being a health risk”.