"They tasted weak. I just assumed they had been watered down," Clarke tells PEOPLE of the drinks they consumed on the night of Nov. 12. White died nine days later on Nov. 21.
The best friend of a British woman who died after drinking alcohol that authorities suspect was tainted with methanol while visiting Laos is speaking out.
Bethany Clarke, 28, was traveling with Simone White, also 28, in the Southeast Asian country in November 2024 when they drank free vodka shots at the Nana Backpackers hostel in Vang Vieng, per the BBC.
After White's death on Nov. 21, Clarke is now keen to educate young people about the dangers of methanol poisoning after launching the Methanol Awareness for Simone White campaign.
Clarke said in a recent Instagram video of the night they drank the shots, "Simone and I consumed free vodka shots during our hostel's happy hour on the 12th of November."
The 28-year-old, who is British but now lives in Australia, told PEOPLE of the pair consuming the shots, "They tasted weak. I just assumed they had been watered down. That evening I went to bed at around 10:30 p.m. because I felt exhausted. I assumed at the time it was jet lag."
She continued in the Instagram clip, "The next day we both felt really ill, and we tried to do the activities we had planned that day, but after Simone vomited and I fainted, we were taken to a local public hospital."
"The public hospital thought we were suffering from food poisoning, or even the side effects of drugs, which we hadn't taken," she shared. "A few hours later, Simone suffered from respiratory distress, gasping for air, and she couldn't talk."
"That evening, we managed to get to a private hospital in Vientiane, and Simone was rushed to the ICU," Clarke went on, adding, "Later on, the following morning of the 14th of November, Simone had several seizures and was sedated. She never woke up, and was in a coma."
Clarke said that White's mother, Sue, arrived in Laos on Nov. 16, "just as Simone was being rushed into brain surgery to alleviate the pressure on her brain after multiple seizures."
"It worked, but doctors then discovered pressure on the other side of her brain, which would also require more surgery, that the doctors did not think would improve her chance of recovery," she shared in the video.
"After discussions with doctors in the U.K. consulate, Sue had to turn off Simone’s life support on the 21st of November," Clarke said.
As previously reported by PEOPLE, an American, two Danish tourists, as well as Australian teenager Holly Bowles, 19, and her friend Bianca Jones, also 19, reportedly died in the incident in Vang Vieng.
Clarke told PEOPLE how she and White had met at kindergarten when she was 4 and White was 5 years old.
"She was always smiling and always made everyone feel like they were the most important person in the room," she said, adding that they "traveled as much as we could all over the globe."
"We just clicked. There were no topics 'off limits' and we were always straight with each other," Clarke said.
"The moment when I think she knew something was wrong, she said 'I'll do whatever you do (Biff),' which is what she called me. I just wish I'd have been able to make it all better but back then, I didn't know what I know now. I hope she didn't suffer too much," Clarke told PEOPLE.
In a November interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), hostel owner Duong van Huan said that the poisoned drinks didn't come from his bar. He also claimed he'd been in the industry for nearly 11 years, and that that was the first time something like that had happened.
"I really take care of all the customers [who] stay with our hotel and our hostel," he told the outlet at the time. "I'm not doing anything wrong with all of the customer."
"I'm scared it happened. I lose a lot of customer, no customer right now, nobody stay, I'm very sad as well about my business," the owner added.
The Associated Press previously reported that a "number of people" had been detained in the case but told the outlet that no charges had currently been filed, citing an officer with Vang Vieng's Tourism Police office.
The manager and owner of the Nana Backpacker Hostel were among those taken in for questioning in November, per the news agency. It's not immediately clear if the hostel is facing further charges, and contact information wasn't available for PEOPLE to reach out for comment.
While methanol can be inadvertently produced during the brewing process, The Guardian reported it's often illegally added to drinks to help increase the alcohol content.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, methanol is a colorless, watery liquid, and symptoms of methanol poisoning resemble over-consumption of alcohol, like nausea, dizziness, loss of consciousness and vomiting.
"Fatal cases often present with fast heart rate (tachycardia) or slow heart rate (bradycardia) and an increased rate of respiration. Low blood pressure (hypotension) and respiratory arrest occur when death is imminent,"
the CDC said.