BANGKOK — Four foreign tourists have died after a suspected mass methanol poisoning from drinking tainted alcohol at a backpacker hotspot in Laos, Western government officials and media said Thursday.
A young Australian woman was the latest confirmed death, and her friend was fighting for her life, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.
Two Danish citizens and an American had also died, officials said, after what media said was a night out in Vang Vieng where they drank possibly tainted alcohol.
The group of about a dozen tourists became ill after going out on November 12, according to British and Australian media.
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 re-branded as an eco-tourism destination.
On their travel advice websites for Laos, UK and Australia authorities warn their citizens to beware of methanol poisoning while consuming alcohol in Laos.
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.
