KILLER booze is sweeping through Brit holiday hotspots – with the UK adding 11 more countries to its “warning list” as global fatalities surge.
The alert comes amid a chilling rise in deaths and blindness linked to counterfeit or contaminated alcohol across Asia, Africa, South America and Europe.
Britain’s Foreign Office has expanded its methanol-poisoning warning for the second month in a row – naming Bangladesh, India, Iran, Jordan, Libya, Malawi, Malaysia, Morocco, Nepal, Papua New Guinea and Rwanda as new high-risk destinations.
They join last month’s additions – Ecuador, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Russia and Uganda – following what officials describe as a “global increase in the number of reported cases”.
Foreign Office minister Hamish Falconer urged travellers to stay alert, warning: “If you’re drinking spirits overseas, stick to trusted places and avoid homemade alcohol or free shots.
“If something feels off, like a hangover that’s way worse than normal or vision problems – get medical help fast.”
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Professor Alastair Hay, a toxicologist at the University of Leeds, warned that the danger posed by methanol is far beyond what most travellers realise.
When poisoned, the body breaks methanol down into toxic mixtures – both capable of causing catastrophic harm.
The toxins can trigger damage to the optic nerve and dangerously disrupt blood chemistry, Prof Hay said.
And blindness is a serious risk with a methanol overdose.
Prof Hay told The Sun: “Because it causes formic acid, it changes the acidity in the blood.
“And when the blood becomes more acidic, the pH falls, and this causes serious respiratory problems. Your breathing is controlled very much and affected by acidity in the blood.”
The toxicologist said early symptoms often fool victims into thinking they are drunk.
Hay said: “The symptoms of a methanol overdose are very similar to the effects of having too much alcohol. People become a little bit unsteady, find coordination difficult, and there may be blackouts.”
The real danger, he added, appears only later, as “serious symptoms might only be apparent quite some hours after someone has drunk some methanol”.
But Hay warned that holidaymakers have almost no chance of spotting a tainted drink.
He said: “It’s very difficult for people to identify methanol in an alcoholic drink because lots of alcoholic drinks have got other compounds added to them to add to the flavour and the smell”.
Dr Wayne Carter, associate professor at the University of Nottingham, added: “We all have our individual ability to metabolise the particular drug or toxin.
“What might be effective or damaging for one person might not be for another.
“Although you might feel like you’re relatively fit and well, or you’ve got a large body size, which could help with some metabolic effects, it’s going to be an individual process in terms of metabolism.
“Just small millilitre levels mixed in with their alcoholic drink can already be difficult to detect, but also still has a very extensive effect on people.”
Dr Carter said holidaymakers must take the same precautions they would against drink spiking – and told people not to leave any drinks unattended.
He added: “Check your seals on your drinks, check they’re intact, check the labels all look legitimate.”
When asked which drinks are most dangerous, Dr Carter revealed that spirits can be the trickiest ones to detect methanol due to their distilling process.
Instead, he suggested: “If you’re going to the bar, maybe order a bottled beer that has a clear lid… then you’ve got some safety measure against something which has just been potentially contaminated.”
MoneySuperMarket travel-insurance expert Alicia Hempsted said the rise is being driven by a booming counterfeit-alcohol trade and soaring demand for cheap spirits.
She explained: “Methanol is a type of alcohol often used in antifreeze and windshield washer fluid and is highly toxic if consumed.
“Untreated methanol poisoning has a fatality rate of between 20 and 40 per cent.
“Avoid alcohol if you’re unsure of its source or if it seems unusually cheap or homemade.”
Google searches for methanol symptoms have rocketed in recent weeks, and Hempsted said that’s no surprise.
She added: “Methanol looks and smells almost identical to regular alcohol, so it can be hard to detect.
“The safest approach is to only drink from sealed bottles, avoid free or unlabelled drinks and to never leave your drink unattended.”
If drinkers experience any symptoms, you must seek immediate medical attention, she said.
She added: “Treatments can include antidote or dialysis, depending on how advanced the poisoning is.”
She also urged travellers to take out insurance before they go abroad.
“Travel insurance can provide cover for emergency medical expenses and hospital treatments helping to protect you from financial and additional personal stress if the worst does happen,” Hempsted said.
Methanol, an industrial alcohol found in products like antifreeze and paint thinner, is not meant for human consumption.
But in countries with high alcohol taxes or thriving black markets, it is increasingly being illegally mixed into spirits to cut costs.
Tasteless, odourless and often packaged to look like legitimate brands, it is almost impossible for drinkers to detect.
An amount as little as 10ml can cause blindness or death within 12–48 hours.
Warnings now cover a range of tourist favourites across Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Asia – from Brazil, Thailand and Vietnam to Laos, Fiji and Turkey.
The FCDO says early symptoms can resemble a normal hangover, including vomiting, dizziness and confusion.
But within hours, victims can suffer abdominal pain, vertigo, hyperventilation, blurred vision, coma and convulsions.
The UK has launched a “Know the Signs of Methanol Poisoning” campaign, urging Brits to buy only sealed drinks from licensed venues and avoid buckets, jugs, pre-mixed cocktails and any homemade spirits.
The crisis has been expanding at speed, with devastating consequences.
In Laos, British traveller Simone White, 28, was one of the several tourists killed after drinking free vodka shots at a hostel in Vang Vieng last year.
Australian friends Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles, both 19, also died in the tragedy.
And Danish pals Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20, and Freja Vennervald, 21, died after they were left vomiting blood for 13 hours.
Another British backpacker, Calum Macdonald, 23, who drank there a day before, was left permanently blind.
He recalled waking to “this sort of kaleidoscopic, blinding light… to the point at which I couldn’t see anything”.
Later, when his friends sat with him in their lit hotel room, he asked: “Why are we sitting in the dark? Someone should turn a light on.”
Signs of methanol poisoning
Spotting methanol poisoning can be tricky because at first, it can feel like regular alcohol poisoning.
But there are key differences to watch for:
- Early signs: You might feel confused, dizzy, extremely tired, or even start throwing up.
- Serious symptoms appear 12-48 hours after drinking, so be vigilant even the day after. Headaches, nausea, seizures, or even slipping into a coma are common symptoms. Basically, if you’re feeling very drunk, out of proportion to how much you’ve had to drink, get help ASAP.
- Vision issues can also appear 12-48 hours after the first drink. Methanol poisoning can cause blurry vision, trouble looking at bright lights, and even complete blindness. If you have “snowfield vision” (seeing snowy static like an old TV) or tunnel vision, that’s a red flag.
If you or anyone you’re with starts to show any of these signs, call or visit the local hospital immediately.
It could save your life or prevent serious complications.
Source: Travel Aware
In Brazil, another destination on the warning list, a spate of poisonings has killed at least 15 people this year, with dozens more in intensive care.
In Russia, at least 25 people in Leningrad died after drinking 90p bottles of methanol-laced bootleg vodka.
Elsewhere, Kuwait shut down 10 illegal alcohol factories after 23 deaths.
And Turkey introduced strict new laws requiring 24/7 camera surveillance in all alcohol-selling venues after repeated poisonings linked to traditional beverage raki.
Officials warn that methanol is not confined to nameless street-corner bottles.
Criminal networks are now using advanced digital printers, identical to those used by legitimate producers, to replicate labels and packaging of major brands.
At the low end of the market, empty premium-sprit bottles bought online are refilled with contaminated liquids and resold.
In Scotland, counterfeit half-bottles of Glen’s Vodka were found to contain isopropyl alcohol, a harsh industrial chemical.
Australian wine brand Yellow Tail has also been targeted, though there is no suggestion counterfeit versions have caused methanol poisoning.
From Southeast Asia to South America, the surge in methanol-laced booze is now a global threat that kills quickly, blinds survivors and is almost impossible to spot before it’s too late.
As the UK toughens its warnings, tourists need to keep in mind the three main tips: know the signs, avoid cheap or homemade spirits, and get urgent medical help at the first hint something is wrong.