A little town known as a backpacker paradise in northern Laos is receiving unpleasant attention after six young travellers are dead and 11 remain in hospital, following a night out drinking in the town of Vang Vieng. All are suspected of consuming drinks laced with methanol.
On Friday, 19-year-old Australian Holly Bowles became the sixth person to die, 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. Thai authorities confirmed the teenager died due to methanol poisoning.
Three other tourists – two Danish citizens, 19 and 20, and an American –died in Laos after suspected poisoning.
On the night of 11 November, Jones and Bowles went 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 denied that this made them ill.
The pair were reportedly bed-ridden for 24 hours and they failed to check out as planned on 13 November, seeking help from hostel staff, who transported them to hospital where Simone White had already been admitted.
Lao authorities are investigating the deaths, but 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 Norwegian professor Knut Erik Hovda, who works with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, or Doctors Without Borders) on the issue.
Samples were sent to Thailand and verified, said Hovda. He reportedly said the numbers out of Laos are just the “tip of the iceberg”, with tourist horror stories accounting for just a fraction of cases.
There have been several deaths attributed to methanol poisoning of alcohol across Southeast Asia over many years, especially in Indonesia and Thailand.
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.
Vang Vieng, is a 90-minute drive from the capital Vientiane, has remained popular among tourists who enjoy the wide range of activities including the nightlife. In 2005-2006 the town started to become popular among European backpackers, who were attracted by serene nature and activities like river tubing, where tourists sit on a tube and float along the Nam Song its River, stopping to party at many different bars on the banks.
There are still a lot of young Western backpackers, but the town is also visited by many Chinese and South Koreans. Vang Vieng received more than 600,000 tourists in 2023, and expected to see that number increase this year.
Authorities in Laos on Friday detained the manager and owner of the Nana backpacker hostel in Vang Vieng, but no charges have been laid.
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