Murray Olds: Australian correspondent on Melbourne teen Bianca Jones dying from suspected methanol poisoning

A Melbourne teen has died in Thailand after drinking a suspected methanol-laced cocktail in Laos.

Bianca Jones is the fourth person to die associated with the poisoning, along with one American and two Danish tourists.

Her friend is still critically ill.

Australian correspondent Murray Olds says reports claim the liquor bottles may have been topped up with methanol as a cost-saving measure.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Murray Old's Ossie corresponds with us, hey mus go an
sad news, So that Melbourne teen has now died.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
And that's what the reports are saying here now this afternoon,
there were two best friends from Melbourne, first year out
of school UNI students and having a break in Lao
and you know they were out drinking as young people do.
You did it, I did it, and swags of other
people have done it. And sadly, both of these young

(00:27):
women were stricken with what looks to be methanol poisoning.
Not the only ones, because we understand that three people
have died too, young women from Scandinavia, a girl from
the United States. And now this afternoon we understand that
Biancha Jones has died. She's nineteen. Her friend Holly Bowles
is still alive. We understand another nineteen year old. They

(00:48):
became ill and loud and were flown down to a
hospital in Bangkok. Of course mum and dad family members
jumped the first plane they could up there to be
by their daughter's bedsides. And sadly, the news appears to
be very grim and d for the Jones family, with
young Bianca Jones reportedly dead in hospital.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
And Thailand must do we know why these drinks are
being spiked like this?

Speaker 2 (01:11):
Well, the the the inference, according to the reports I've
seen here on Australian television and in Australian media, is
that they dilute the drinks with methanol to make them
go further. If you've got a brandy, okay, let's just
put it a couple of you know, egg cups full
of methanol and the brandy bottle and make you know,

(01:33):
they may get a few more nips out of the bottle.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
Okay, So it's a cost saving thing. That's terrible.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
Ass.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
Listen, okay, what's going on with this car seat on
fire in Sydney?

Speaker 2 (01:41):
Oh, dreadful. This is just absolutely dreadful. Look Sydney's Eastern suburbs.
Everyone knows it's the home to the Sydney's Jewish community.
More Jewish people live in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney
than anywhere else in this city. The only place with
the higher concentration is down in Melbourne. Pardon me, excuse

(02:02):
me now. Overnight one car was set on fire and
about a dozen vehicles were spray painted with the words
f Israel. All these cars. There was an entrance to
an apartment block as well with this graffiti over three
or four streets. The cars were attacked and now the
police say, well, there were two people caught on CCTV

(02:24):
heather both wearing dark clothing, hoodies, face masks and the like.
Police so more than one hundred thousand dollars damage and
the Prime Minister, Anthony Alberinezi was asked his response, well,
it's absolutely disturbing and very deeply troubling that this can
happen in a place like Sydney. I mean, come on, really,
is this what we're reduced to?

Speaker 1 (02:45):
So do we I mean, do we know are the
cars that have been targeted as supposed to be owned
by Jewish people or is it just because hey, there
are a bunch of Jewish people living in the area.
Let's just have a crack at anybody's car.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
I think it's the latter. And you know, this is
a nice looking car, better Jewish guy owns it, let's
set it on fire. I mean, this is the sort
of intellectual capacity of the morons who are doing this.
I reckon their IQs about room temperature just dreadful.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
Really is quite bad. Hey have you seen that footage.
You know, we're talking about that Bunning stuff the other
day with the Privacy CCTV. Have you seen the footage
of what people are getting up to in Bunnings.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
Absolutely, and Bunnings now released a whole lot more. I mean,
here's the thing. Okay. They were wrapped out of the
knuckles for using facial recognition technology without telling anyone. And
Bunnings has said listen, it was done as a safety
measure to better protect our staff and better protect people
who are coming into our stores and spending money. Well,
you know, the orwelly and sounding Australian Information Commissioner found

(03:38):
that Bunnings breached privacy laws and bunningses have a look
at this stuff. There's a guy wandering around in Bunnings
with a face mask and a shotgun. There are other
people holding bloody grate knives up to the throats of
Bunning staff members. Bunning staff members get skittled by people
and running out of the store shop lifting. I mean,
what is that? What the Privacy commissioner you know, or

(03:59):
it doesn't matter. I mean, Buddings, just hang on a second.
This is what we're confronted with on a daily basis,
and the Retailers Association of Australia says, listen, Privacy Commissioner
bugger Off Buddings is doing. This is a safety measure
for everybody who comes to the shop, staff and customers.
Are you really going to, you know, wrap them over
their knuckles for that? It is absolutely disgraceful. I mean,

(04:19):
is it going to be Is it going to be
okay to use facial magnition technology when someone stabbed to death?
Is that what they're waiting for?

Speaker 1 (04:26):
I agree with you, mus I think we've got the
whole thing complete. We're worried about the wrong thing here.
I really appreciate your time. It's Murray Yolds, our Australia correspondent.
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