'Trendy cocktails aren't what they seem': Grieving friend issues stark warning to Australian tourists drinking cheap alcohol after his friend dies from methanol poisoning in Bali
- Aussie-Kiwi teenager Liam Davies died in Bali in 2013 from methanol poisoning
- He died after drinking what bar staff said were real imported vodka-lime mixes
- Since his death, Perth man Colin 'Col' Ahearn has been spreading awareness
- It takes just one millilitre of methanol per kilo of body weight to kill people
A man has shared a stark warning to Australian tourists after a Perth teenager man died from methanol poisoning after a night of drinking while holidaying in Bali.
Kiwi-Australian teenager Liam Davies died on party island Gili Trawangan in January 2013 after drinking what he believed was imported vodka-lime mixes.
But what bar staff told him was a genuine drink was in fact fake, and had been mixed with deadly methanol.
The Perth teenager and his two friends suffered severe methanol poisoning - but tragically Liam died.
Since Liam's passing, Perth man Colin 'Col' Ahearn has been dedicated to spreading the message to tourists to stay away from spirits in Bali.
Since the tragic death of an Australian teenager in Bali in 2013, Perth man Colin 'Col' Ahearn (pictured) has been spreading the message to not trust certain alcohol while overseas
Kiwi-Australian teenager Liam Davies (middle) died on the party island Gili Trawangan in January 2013 after drinking what he believed was imported vodka-lime mixes. Pictured with parents Lhani and Tim
Mr Ahearn told Daily Mail Australia he first started learning the risks of methanol poisoning in Bali shortly after meeting Liam's parents, Lhani and Tim Davies.
'I started just warning mates on Facebook when I spotted them with trendy cocktail photos in Bali,' he said.
Methanol is a by-product of poor distillation, and industrial methanol has been found in many cases where spirits at bars have been tested.
'Wherever Industrial Methanol has been found in spirits, Fecal matter is always present as well. Good old s**t in the water,' he said.
'It takes 30ml of Methanol to blind someone and 60 to 90ml to kill the average sized person without proper treatment'.
Mr Ahearn said it's concerning to still see a number of young Australians risking their lives while on holiday.
The Aussie globetrotter has been spreading the message to tourists through his Facebook campaign 'Just Don't Drink Spirits In Bali'
The Aussie globetrotter reaches hundreds of thousands of people through his Facebook campaign 'Just Don't Drink Spirits In Bali'.
'The tax on authentic properly imported alcohol is just huge, so they will use Arak based copy spirits with flavorings to try and make it taste like what you drink,' he wrote on Facebook.
His movement hasn't earned him any friends on the Indonesian island though, saying a lot of bar owners don't like him as a result.
'Really what you are being fed is a cheap knock of that has the potential to kill you. Sure not all venues do this, but you can bet your bits that a bloody lot are.'
Since Liam's death, Mr and Mrs Davies have set up the LIAM foundation - which stands for 'Lifesaving Initiative Against Methanol'.
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The foundation was instrumental in getting legislation in Bali changed - meaning local hospitals now offer ethanol blockers as a treatment.
Ethanol blockers buy a patient's body time to get other treatment to save their life.
The LIAM Foundation also paid for and facilitated 8,000 medical professionals in Indonesia to be trained in how to recognise and treat methanol poisoning.
'You would now get better medical treatment for methanol poisoning in Bali than what you would in Sydney. Aussie Doctors rarely see it.'
Due to alcohol in Bali being highly taxed, many bar owners turn to replica locally made spirits instead of higher priced genuine Imported spirits.
'The currently is a lot of problems with local spirits being sold as genuine and that just isn't right,' he said.
'I have drunk Arak many times back in the Sari Club days pre Bali Bombing. You will never get that pi**ed, that quick from any other booze,' he said.
Despite Mr Ahearn dabbling with Arak many years ago, he said he couldn't be paid to drink it again.
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