A young British woman and her boyfriend died after unknowingly consuming a lethal cocktail of drugs while traveling in Thailand.
Rebecca Turner, 36, died in a Bangkok hotel room after taking what she thought was a line of cocaine with her partner.
It later emerged that the powder they had purchased contained a lethal combination of nine medications, including painkillers, sleeping pills and anxiety medications.
Rebecca’s devastated mother is now warning other young people to resist aggressive street drug dealers while on holiday.
Anita Turner, 64, from Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, said: “My heart is broken in two – I can’t believe I will never see her again.”
‘Every morning I wake up and see a picture of her and I just cry and cry. It’s killing me. The pain of losing a child is indescribable. You can’t imagine such pain until it happens to you.
‘There is a huge problem with drugs and you just don’t know what you are taking or how strong it is. You have to be very careful. “It’s really not worth the risk.”
Rebecca had been traveling in Thailand when she died on March 15. I was due to fly home a month later.
Mrs Turner said her daughter had spent four years in Laos and described it as her second home.
Rebecca Turner died in Thailand after accidentally taking a ‘lethal drug cocktail’
Anita Turner (left) said the pain of losing her daughter Rebecca was ‘indescribable’
Rebecca’s mother said: ‘Every morning I wake up and see a picture of her and I cry and cry.’
She had attended a friend’s wedding in Laos before she and Sam, a self-employed gas engineer and plumber, checked into the Khaosan Palace hotel in Bangkok on March 15.
CCTV showed Sam entering the hotel half an hour before Rebecca that day. He had texted a friend saying he had just bought cocaine, Ms Turner said.
Rebecca and Sam are believed to have died around 1pm. Their bodies were discovered by friends who went looking for them. His body was on the bed, Rebecca’s on the floor.
Authorities told Mrs. Turner that there were nine drugs in her daughter’s system, including opiates, morphine, codeine, noscapine, benzodiazepine, temazepam, lorazepam, diazepam and monoacetylmorphine.
“A lot of people are dying and people need to know,” Ms. Turner said. ‘That road (where Rebecca was staying) is particularly bad: a child died of the same thing just a day before.
“I just want to tap people on the shoulder and tell them, please don’t drink anything.”
Ms Turner was sent an autopsy report from Thailand, but she said some parts were redacted.
An inquest into Rebecca’s death is expected to be held in the UK in January.
A family photo of Rebecca Young as a child; His inquiry is expected to be heard in January
Rebecca had been traveling in Thailand and was due to fly home just a month after her death.
Rebecca Truner had previously lived in Laos, Southeast Asia, for four years; her mother described it as Rebecca’s “second home.”
Last month, six tourists, including a British lawyer, died in Laos after drinking vodka laced with deadly methanol.
Trainee solicitor Simone White, 28, was among five young women and one man consuming vodka at the Nana Backpacker Hostel, which costs £6 a night.
Just 4 ml of methanol, a common byproduct of homemade alcohol that is sometimes added to bootleg drinks to make them stronger, can be lethal.
All six people died despite receiving medical treatment. A dozen more needed hospital treatment but survived.
A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) spokesperson said: “We are supporting the family of a British citizen who died in Thailand and are in contact with local authorities.”