Heartbroken Chinese woman dies after marathon boozing session, friends ordered to pay compensation for failing to stop her
- Dinner party ends in tragedy after woman consumes half litre of strong liquor
- Court says friends had obligation to protect, could have saved her life
Three women in southeastern China have been ordered to pay tens of thousands of yuan (several thousand US dollars) in compensation after their friend died when she drank half a litre of strong alcohol at a dinner gathering with them.
A court in Nanchang, Jiangxi province, reached the verdict after concluding that the trio failed to carry out their “reasonable obligation” to stop their friend from drinking excessively and for not trying to save her life.
On May 21, the woman identified by the nickname Xiaoqiu, went to her friend Wang Qi’s home for a dinner party, and they were joined by two other friends Xu and Chen. The purpose of the gathering was for the women to support Xiaoqiu who was upset after her boyfriend broke up with her.
The lovesick Xiaoqiu consumed a total of half a litre of Chinese baijiu liquor, known for its high alcohol content. Wang drank 0.25 litre while the other two women did not drink any.
Accompanied by Xu, Xiaoqiu went to her car to rest after the dinner. But Xu fell asleep and when she woke at about 5am the next day, she realised her friend was not breathing.
She called an ambulance and doctors announced Xiaoqiu’s death an hour later. They said she had died of cardiorespiratory arrest caused by alcohol poisoning.
