Remembrance service for student poisoned in Indonesia

A REMEMBRANCE service will be held later this year for an Irishwoman who died after drinking contaminated alcohol while on holidays in Indonesia.

Rachel Craig (25), from Drogheda, Co Louth, along with her Dutch boyfriend Rene Puper (23) were among 25 people who died after drinking arak, a palm wine which was spiked with the chemical methanol, used in rural areas as fuel for pump lanterns.

Ms Craig died on Saturday in Gili Trawangan, a small resort island off Lombok. Her boyfriend died on Sunday.

The pair had arrived there on Saturday afternoon. Eyewitnesses had noticed them drinking arak on a neighbouring island.

Three local people have been arrested in connection with the poisonings. They were involved in a small rice wine factory and police found three 650-gallon drums of arak that contained traces of methanol.

Ms Craig was a final year student in biomedical engineering at NUI Galway, and was due to graduate this summer. She had been on a round-the-world trip which had taken her though Europe and Asia.

Prof Peter McHugh, professor of biomedical engineering and head of department, said the college chaplain had approached the family about a possible remembrance service before the start of the next academic year.

He described her death as “absolutely shocking”, and said it left her fellow students traumatised.

Prof McHugh described Ms Craig as “a bubbly, friendly sort of girl who got on well with her classmates and enjoyed life”, and who completed a successful placement at Abbot Vascular in Galway last year.

“She was somebody who was going to make a big contribution to both engineering and life in general. To be taken at such an early stage is a terrible thing,” he said.

Ms Craig was from College Rise in Drogheda. She had attended school at Our Lady’s in Greenhills, Drogheda.

Principal Padraig Byrne described her as a “lovely girl, beautiful, most unassuming and gentle”. He said she had done a very good Leaving Certificate and appeared to have the world at her feet. She had also been heavily involved in the girl guides in Drogheda.

“It is terrible tragedy. We were all shocked and feel so sorry for her family,” Mr Byrne said.

Ms Craig is survived by her parents Noel and Theresa and her brother Ian.