British backpacker dies after falling ill in Cambodian hostel

A young British backpacker and her Canadian travelling companion were found dead in a Cambodian hostel just hours after falling ill, an inquest heard today.

Natalie Seymour, 22, had messaged her mother back in the UK to say she and her 27-year-old friend Abbey Gail Amisola had a severe stomach upset and were going out to get help.

But hours later staff at the Monkey Republic guesthouse in Kampot, southern Cambodia, entered their room to find them dead.

Natalie Seymour, 22, (left) had messaged her mother back in the UK to say she and her 27-year-old friend Abbey Gail Amisola (pictured with her on the right) had a severe stomach upset and were going out to get help

Today, a coroner investigating Ms Seymour’s death returned an inconclusive open verdict after hearing she and her friend had brought an unknown over-the-counter medication.

The hearing heard they were taken ill with severe sickness and diarrhoea soon after arriving at the hostel in November 2017.

Ms Seymour’s phone was examined by the Cambodian authorities, who found she had been searching Google about her symptoms.

She wrote in one search: ‘Vomiting so much I have chest pains.’ In another she said: ‘My belly is cramping, but I don’t feel sick. It’s weird – what is going on’.

Today, a coroner investigating Ms Seymour’s death returned an inconclusive open verdict after hearing she and her friend had brought an unknown over-the-counter medication

The traveller was concerned too about the colour of her vomit – yellow and dark green.

The inquest in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, heard how Ms Seymour, from Shefford, had flown out from Britain in November 2017 to Cambodia to meet up with Ms Amisola, who she had met a year earlier in Bali.

Ms Seymour had quit her job as an accounts manager and flew on a one-way ticket, hoping to fulfill her thirst for adventure. She provided daily updates to her family.

After arriving in the south western city of Kampot, she and Ms Amisola booked into the Monkey Republic Guesthouse, but became ill soon after.

Other backpackers brought them food and drink as their conditions deteriorated, but because of the hostel’s remote location there was no hospital nearby.

A local villager took the women in a car to a local doctor, but by the time they arrived they were unconscious and brought back to the hostel. They were found dead some hours after.

Ms Seymour’s body was brought back to Britain and Hertfordshire Police opened an investigation into her death.

Paul Myhill, a scene of crime officer with the force, said there was no evidence of ‘ foul play’.

Dr Rajiv Swamy, who carried out the post-mortem, told the latest inquest he had found evidence of damage to her liver caused by ‘drug toxicity’, and gave this as the cause of death. However, the coroner returned an open verdict. Pictured is Ms Seymour 

Blood samples taken by Cambodian officials from Ms Seymour’s body could not be tested because there was no proper labelling on the vials, but a post-mortem was carried out at Lister Hospital in Stevenage.

When the first inquest was opened into Ms Seymour’s death in 2018, its cause could not be determined.

Dr Rajiv Swamy, who carried out the post-mortem, told the latest inquest he had found evidence of damage to her liver caused by ‘drug toxicity’, and gave this as the cause of death.

He said this was sometimes seen as a result of taking over-the-counter medication like paracetamol or anti convulsants used to treat seizures.

But Coroner Sullivan recorded an open verdict, meaning he could not be specific about what had caused her death. 

Police are pictured by the beds at the Monkey Republic Hostel where the two women were staying