Roman Stavrovnow can breathe slowly and hiscondition has improved.

Nguyen Luong Ky, head of the hospital’s Anti-poison Intensive Care Unit, said two foreigners were hospitalised on Tuesday and early Wednesday in a state of severe respiratory distress. 

He said they were a couple named Petrova Nadejda, born in 1987, from Uzbekistan, and Roman Stavrov, born in 1987, from Kazakhstan. Both patients were stable but suffered severe poisoning.

Doctor Le Dang Khoa, who treated the two patients, confirmed that both had improved and had a positive prognosis.

The male patient can breathe slowly, while the female patient was still in a coma.

The female patient was transferred from Military Hospital 87 (in Nha Trang City) on Tuesday to the hospital.

The male patient was hospitalised on Wednesday morning.

They were diagnosed with methanol poisoning at the time of admission.

One of the patients said they had gone fishing with two Vietnamese friends and bought beer to drink. Because of the light alcohol content in the beer, they added methanol to increase its strength. After drinking the mixture, one of the Vietnamese friends died.

Methanol is very toxic, drinking even a small amount can cause blindness, and more can be fatal. — VNS