Vang Vieng has been a fixture on the Southeast Asia backpacker trail since Laos’ secretive communist rulers opened the country to tourism decades ago.
The town was once notorious for backpackers behaving badly at jungle parties and has since rebranded as an eco-tourism destination.
On their travel advice websites for Laos, UK, Australia and New Zealand authorities warn their citizens to beware of methanol poisoning while consuming alcohol in the country.
Methanol can be added to liquor to increase its potency, but can cause blindness, liver damage and death.
In neighbouring Thailand, at least six people died and more than 20 were hospitalised after drinking methanol-laced bootleg alcohol in August.
BACKPACKER HOSTEL
Bowles and Jones, both aged 19 from Melbourne, became unwell while staying at Vang Vieng’s Nana Backpackers Hostel last week, Australian media reported.
The women drank at the hostel’s bar before they went out for the evening, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
They failed to check out on Nov 13, when hostel staff rushed the pair to the hospital.
The Facebook and Instagram pages of the hostel had been deactivated as of Thursday and it was no longer taking bookings on websites.
AFP was unable to reach the hostel for comment.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/laos-alcohol-methanol-poisoning-british-woman-died-nana-backpackers-vang-vieng-4763206
