A young American women recently on a holiday to Bali has reportedly gone blind after drinking arak laced with methanol. After drinking at two bars and consuming 8-10 drinks before travelling to New Zealand where some 35 hours later she was hospitalised in Christchurch suffering from shortness of breath and her vision was impaired. Four weeks later the young lady was blind. The drinks consisted of arak and fruit juices, which were free but apparently tainted with methanol. In 2009, 25 tourists died in Bali after drinking a batch of arak which had been tainted with methanol. Similarly, last year a nurse who drank arak in Lombok suffered from brain damage and kidney failure.
