My sister’s death will not be last

THE sister of a British backpacker killed by contaminated gin has spoken of her sadness after the latest tourist was blinded by dodgy alcohol.

Measha Emmons has been fighting to raise public awareness of the dangers of counterfeit booze since her 23-year-old sister Cheznye died from methanol poisoning three years ago.

She fears there will be further tragedies unless the Foreign Office and UK health authorities start doing more to warn holidaymakers.

She said: “It’s a terrible situation and it’s only getting worse. There have been so many cases and nobody seems to be trying to do anything about it. It’s a problem that is not going to go away.”

Measha, 29, spoke out after Hannah Powell suffered kidney failure and was left blind on Zante.

Measha says the tragedy reawakened painful memories of her sister’s death in Indonesia.

She said: “I thought about all the pain my sister had to go through and the agony that girl is going through right now.”

Beautician Chezyne, of Great Wakering, Essex, died after buying the poisoned alcohol while backpacking with her boyfriend.

Failed

Her dad Brenton, 50, discovered the lethal gin was still on sale when he went to Indonesia to investigate her death a year later.

The family printed 20,000 posters highlighting the dangers of counterfeit alcohol and hoped to distribute them among GPs here.

They also started a Facebook page to alert other travellers about the potential dangers and raised £10,000 with a series of fund-raising events to pay for the printing and distribution of the posters.

But they say NHS officials who originally backed the “Chez – Save A Life” campaign have failed to honour their promise.

Around 18,000 posters are still wrapped up in cardboards ready for distribution.

They wanted public health officials to help distribute the posters but were told it was up to individual GP surgeries to display them.

Measha got back in touch with the Foreign Office in the hope of relaunching their campaign.

She said: “I think they need to step up to the plate and raise public awareness that this actually happens.

“I am worried there will be more tragedies. It is something that worries me all the time.”