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Eight employees of the Nana Backpackers Hostel in Vang Vieng, Laos, have been detained by local authorities in connection with the deaths of six foreign tourists. The victims, two Australian teenagers, two Danish women, an American man, and a British woman, are suspected to have died from methanol poisoning after consuming tainted alcohol. The hostel employees, all Vietnamese nationals aged between 23 and 44, were arrested on Monday, according to NBC News.
Several of the victims had stayed at the Nana Backpackers Hostel, where guests had reportedly been offered free shots of alcohol. The hostel's manager, Duong Duc Toan, and the owner, both Vietnamese, were also detained for questioning last week. Toan stated that the two Australian victims, Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles, both 19, had gone out after receiving the free shots and that no other guests had reported any issues.
The American victim has been identified as James Louis Hutson, 57. The details of the deaths remain unclear, and authorities say investigations are still underway. State-run media reported that the suspected cause of the deaths was “the consumption of tainted alcoholic beverages.”
The government of Laos, one of the world’s few openly communist states, has expressed profound sadness over the deaths and vowed to prosecute those responsible. The bodies of Jones and Bowles were returned to Australia on Tuesday night, accompanied by their relatives. A New Zealand citizen who was also poisoned by tainted alcohol but survived has returned home.