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A total of six foreign tourists have died after allegedly consuming tainted alcohol in Laos.

The incident has cast a dark shadow over the popular tourist destination, sparking urgent questions about safety standards and the dangers lurking in counterfeit drinks.

Two Danish backpackers who died in the mass poisoning, suspected to be methanol poisoning, had been backpacking across southeast Asia in what was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime.

But the trip took a nightmarish turn when Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20, and Freja Vennervald Sorensen, 21, originally from the Denmark town of Roskilde, messaged a friend to say they had been vomiting blood for hours before they went eerily silent, and were later found deceased.

The two travellers drank from the same batch of alcohol thought to have been spiked with methanol that also left four others dead, including Australian teenagers Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones, while another 11 foreign nationals remain in hospital fighting for life.

They were staying at Nana Backpackers in Vang Vieng, Laos – a place which The Guardian notes had a similar situation happen in 2012 after a spate of backpacker deaths led to a crackdown on bars and a temporary tubing ban (the place had become known for boozy tubing experiences).

On Friday, the 19-year-old Australian Holly Bowles became the sixth person to die from the suspected consumption of drinks laced with methanol. News of her death came just hours after that of British lawyer Simone White, 28. Bowles’s best friend, Bianca Jones, 19, died on Thursday in hospital in Udon Thani, in Thailand, near the northern border with Laos. Thai authorities confirmed the Melbourne teenager died due to methanol poisoning.

The authorities in Laos detained the manager and owner of the Nana backpacker hostel in Vang Vieng, but no charges have been laid, while families around the world desperately search for answers about how something like this could have happened.

Local police reports stated that Ms Sorensen and Ms Coyman drank at the hostel bar on November 12 and then visited some other local bars. They got back to their room around midnight but then stayed there until staff found them about 6PM the next day, lying unconscious on their bathroom floor.

Image: Instagram / jadelahtinen

Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones, best friends from Melbourn, were also on a “dream getaway”, Jones’s family said. The pair had also gone out to some bars in Vang Vieng, according to a hostel staff member, who spoke to the media.

The hostel’s manager, Duong Duc Toan, has said he served Jones and Bowles free shots of local vodka before they headed out, but vehemently denies that this made them ill.

After failing to check out on 13 November, they sought help from hostel staff, who transported them to the hospital where they died. Nearby in the same hospital was Simone White, from Orpington, in south-east London, who was among the six British nationals who required treatment after the incident in Vang Vieng.

Her death in Laos was confirmed mere hours after that of Jones, who had been rushed to neighbouring Thailand after falling critically ill. Thai authorities revealed that Jones succumbed to “brain swelling caused by dangerously high levels of methanol in her system.”

Holly Bowles (left) and Bianca Jones (right) | Image: Beaumaris Football Club

As Lao authorities continue investigating the cases, experts say the clinical signs point to methanol poisoning.

“The minute you have people drinking and getting sick in a high number and the symptoms start after a certain time, that is methanol until proven otherwise,” said Norwegain professor Knut Erik Hovda, who works with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, or Doctors Without Borders) on the issue.

In Southeast Asia, brewing bootleg liquor from ingredients like rice and sugarcane is a common practice deeply ingrained in local culture. However, these homemade brews are sometimes adulterated with methanol, a cheaper but deadly substitute for ethanol. Unlike ethanol, which is the intoxicating component of standard alcoholic drinks and safe in moderation, methanol is highly toxic to humans. Shockingly, just one mouthful—30ml—can prove fatal.

It is impossible to tell if your drink has been made with poisoned alcohol, meaning travellers, especially in south-east Asia, have to be careful about what they consume, says Dr Dicky Budiman, a public health expert from Australia’s Griffith University.

“The clear message for young travellers is that if they are offered illegal or bootleg alcohol or local drinks, it is best to avoid it,” he says.

Asia has the highest prevalence of methanol poisoning globally, with incidents in Indonesia, India, Cambodia, Vietnam and the Philippines, according to data from MSF.

In 2018, for example, more than 80 people died from drinking bootleg liquor in Indonesia, while more than 100 others were hospitalised.

[source:giardian]