Eight detained in Laos over mass poisoning as families demand answers

HONG KONG — Eight employees of a backpacker hostel in Laos have been detained for questioning by local authorities investigating the deaths of six foreign tourists from suspected methanol poisoning, local media reported.

Two Australian teenagers, two Danish women, an American man and a British woman have been confirmed dead by their governments. They are thought to have died after drinking alcohol tainted with methanol, leading foreign governments to warn travelers to be cautious about what they drink at nightclubs and bars in the Southeast Asian nation, particularly if it is free.

Several of those who died had stayed at the Nana Backpackers Hostel in Vang Vieng, a town north of the capital, Vientiane, that is popular among backpackers. Guests at the hostel had reportedly been offered free shots of alcohol.

The employees, all Vietnamese nationals between the ages of 23 and 44, were arrested on Monday, according to the state-affiliated Laotian Times.

The hostel’s manager, Duong Duc Toan, told The Associated Press last week that the two Australians, Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles, both 19, had gone out after receiving the free shots and that no other guests had reported any issues. He and the owner of the hostel, who is also Vietnamese, were also detained for questioning last week, The AP reported.

The American victim has been identified as James Louis Hutson, 57.

Details of the deaths remain unclear, and authorities say investigations are still underway. State-run media said Friday that the suspected cause of the deaths was “the consumption of tainted alcoholic beverages.”

Travelers have been known to die from methanol poisoning in the past after consuming alcohol laced with it by unscrupulous bar owners trying to increase volume.

The government of Laos, one of the world’s few openly communist states, has said it is “profoundly saddened” by the deaths and vowed to prosecute those responsible.

The bodies of Jones and Bowles returned to Australia on Tuesday night, accompanied by their relatives.

“We miss our daughters desperately. I was happy to hear that there’s been some movement over in Laos,” Jones’s father, Mark Jones, told reporters at Melbourne Airport.

“We cannot have our girls passing and this continuing to happen,” he said.

A New Zealand citizen who was also poisoned by tainted alcohol but survived has returned home, Reuters reported Monday, citing a spokesperson for the New Zealand foreign ministry.

The U.S., Danish and other embassies are still working to repatriate other victims’ remains.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com