American, Danish victims in suspected poisoning in Laos named

Warning: Disturbing content.

Vang Vieng: The American victim of a suspected mass poisoning in Laos was found dead in his hostel room next to two empty bottles of vodka, while the two Danish victims were discovered unconscious on their bathroom floor, according to a Laos government document.

The police document, seen by this masthead, named the American as James Louis Hutson, 57, and the Danish women as Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20, and Freja Vennervald Sorensen, 21, although the trio could not be independently identified.

Tourists at Nana Backpacker Hostel in Vang Vieng on Tuesday. Credit: AP

They are believed to be the first three deaths from the suspected methanol poisoning in Vang Vieng that also killed Australians Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles, and 28-year-old British woman Simone White.

Thai authorities have already identified methanol, a form of alcohol mostly found in bootleg spirits, as the likely cause of Jones’s death. She and Bowles were flown to separate hospitals there after they became sick.

In what has been a secretive investigation, the document from Laos offers the first details of the American’s and Danes’ deaths, and reveals that the Nana Backpacker Hostel continued to operate for nine days after discovering Hutson dead in room 205.

This masthead has been unable to verify reports from locals that all the dead victims were guests at Nana. It had been serving free shots of alcohol just before they became sick. The owner of the hostel, who has denied the hostel was responsible, was detained by Laos police some time after Wednesday.

The police document reported that Coyman and Sorensen went out to the bars in Vang Vieng and returned to the hostel at about midnight on November 12.

“Until November 13, they slept in the room and did not go out,” a translated version of the document stated.

“At 6pm, the guest house staff went to check and saw [Coyman and Sorensen] lying unconscious on the bathroom floor, so they were brought to Vang Vieng Hospital. At that time, they were in a coma.”

Unable to treat such a serious case, doctors moved the pair to a hospital in the capital of Vientiane. Government-backed media outlet Vientiane Times, which reproduced parts of the document, reported that they both died at about 3.30am on the 14th. They had been in Laos for a week.

Bianca Jones from Melbourne died in Thailand on Thursday.Credit: Facebook

“The doctor diagnosed the problem as sudden heart failure,” the document said. “Their families will take their bodies back to perform an autopsy in Denmark.”

The precise dates remained unclear, and though the document said the pair got home at midnight on 12th, it could, in fact, have been midnight on the 11th. A worker at Nana said Jones and Bowles got back to the hostel on the same night or early morning as the Danes.

The Australians spent all the next day in the dormitory, before appearing about 10pm, the worker said. They were “walking around” but apparently having trouble drinking water. About 2am on what was believed to be November 13, the pair were taken to Vang Vieng Hospital.

Hutson, meanwhile, arrived in Laos on July 23 and had been in the tourist town since October 20, according to the government document.

Vang Vieng hospital.Credit: RFA/Citizen photographer

“On November 13, at about 9.10pm, a worker … noticed that the person did not leave the room all day, so he knocked on the door and there was no response. He took the master key and saw that the person was lying on the bed … after that, the owner of the guest house and seven employees moved the dead body to Vang Vieng Hospital.

“Inside the room there were four bottles of beer that had been drunk and two bottles of vodka that had been drunk and one bottle was still not consumed. The body was without wounds or swelling.”

The document noted that the doctors had not determined a cause of death because Hutson “died before arriving at the hospital”.

The Vientiane Times added that Nana was closed on November 14, but this was not correct. The hostel continued to take guests this week and the last pair only left on Friday.

“On Saturday, November 23, a delegation from the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, including media personnel, was scheduled to go to Vang Vieng to investigate the situation and report on developments,” the news site reported.

The government of Laos publicly acknowledged the tragedy for the first time on Saturday, saying it was “profoundly saddened”.

“The government of the Lao PDR has been conducting investigations to find the causes of the incident and to bring the perpetrators to justice in accordance with the law,” it said. “The [government] reaffirms that it always attaches the importance [sic] and pays attention to the safety of both domestic and foreign tourists.”

Bowles died on Friday, a day after her friend and travelling partner Jones.