Originally from Melbourne, the young woman was traveling with her best friend, who died in the same circumstances, after staying in a youth hostel in Vang Vieng, a town in Laos popular with backpackers.
“All Australians will be heartbroken to learn of the tragic death of Holly Bowles,” Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said.
“Holly had just lost her best friend Bianca Jones yesterday. All Australians are thinking of these two families,” she added.
Australian authorities have demanded from Laos a “full and transparent” investigation into the circumstances of these two deaths.
In Laos, the Vietnamese manager of the youth hostel was taken into custody, Laotian tourist police told AFP. No charges have been filed at this stage.
According to several media, an entire group of a dozen tourists fell ill on November 12 in Vang Vieng.
Simone White, a 28-year-old lawyer from Kent, southeast England, was identified by British media among the victims. The British Foreign Office only indicated “supporting the family of a British woman who died in Laos” without confirming any names.
The other victims are two Danes and an American, according to their respective governments, which did not specify the causes of death.
Lots of tourists in town
The two Australians started feeling unwell at the Nana Backpackers hostel in Vang Vieng where they were staying, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. The two women had consumed alcohol at the establishment's bar before going out, this Australian newspaper said.
Still according to Australian media, on November 13, their hotel staff, alerted because they had not completed their check-out formalities, found them in their room and immediately transported them to hospital.
Since the opening of communist Laos to tourism, Vang Vieng has become an essential stopover for backpackers in Southeast Asia.
The destination became synonymous with wild jungle parties, before reestablishing its name as an ecotourism destination.
“I heard the news but everything is normal here,” Michael, the Vietnamese manager of another youth hostel in Vangvieng, the Rock Backpacker Rooftop Hostel, told AFP.
“We are entering the high season, there are more tourists every day,” added this manager, wishing to be identified only by his first name.
“There are always a lot of tourists in town, and they party,” the receptionist at another hostel, the Vang Vieng Chill House Hostel, confirmed to AFP.
Methanol, a toxic alcohol used in industry and household products, is used in the manufacture of antifreeze or windshield washer fluid, varnish or photocopier fluid.
It can be added to other alcohols to increase potency or to cost less. Its ingestion can cause blindness, liver damage and death.
The British and Australian authorities are also warning their nationals against the risks of methanol poisoning in their travel advice regarding Laos.
In neighboring Thailand, at least six people died and more than 20 others were hospitalized in August after consuming alcohol adulterated with methanol.
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