Video shows Holly Bowles, Bianca Jones partying before Laos mass methanol poisoning

Heartbreaking footage has emerged of Australian teenagers Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones happily partying at a bar in Laos shortly before they died. Watch the video.

A video that shows Australian teenagers Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones partying in Laos shortly before they died has been uncovered.

The eight-second clip captured the 19-year-olds laughing and smiling with other travellers at a bar at the Blue Lagoon, about 30 minutes’ drive from their accommodation in Vang Vieng, in mid-November.

Holly and Bianca could be seen clinking drinks in a “cheers” motion.

They were both drinking from cans, while the two men they were with had glass bottles of alcoholic cider.

The video was taken in the days before they fell ill to methanol poisoning, which was allegedly served in free vodka shots from the bar at Nana Backpacker Hostel where they were staying.

It comes as Laos authorities have banned the sale and consumption of Tiger Vodka and Tiger Whisky following the the deaths of six tourists.

Bianca and Holly, British lawyer Simon White, 28, Danish women Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20, and Freja Vennervald Sorensen, 21, and American man James Louis Hutson, 56, all died after allegedly consuming methanol laced spirits in Vang Vieng.

The Australian Government-run travel advice website Smartraveller issued a warning, urging Australians to avoid Tiger Vodka and Tiger Whisky due to “serious safety concerns”.

Melbourne teen Bianca Jones. Picture: Facebook

Holly Bowles died shortly after her friend. Picture: Facebook

A backpacker who appeared in some of the footage has revealed she went “tipsy tubing” with the two Australian and the Danish women during their final days.

The woman, who asked to be referred to as Ava, recalled Holly and Bianca telling her how “amazing” their trip had been.

Ava said another friend went blind after a night out drinking in Vang Vieng during the same period.

She was so traumatised by the whole situation that she and her best friend decided to abandon the last two months of their trip and go home for Christmas.

“Four of our friends passed away, our other friend has lost his vision and gone home and we just feel like we can’t really enjoy ourselves anymore,” she said.

Ava met Anne-Sofie and Freja on November 9 because they were staying at the same hostel as her boyfriend, Nana Backpacker Hostel. They partied together in the bar.

Danish women Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20, (pictured) and Freja Vennervald Sorensen, 21, are among the six travellers who died from methanol poisoning.

The following day, on November 10, they met Holly and Bianca during tipsy tubing, which involved floating down the Nam Song River and visiting bars along the way.

The group spent the day drinking and went out that evening. No one got sick until two days later.

Another member of her group, a male backpacker, had a night out on November 11 and became violently ill the next morning.

“My friend and I didn’t go out that night, we only had about two drinks so we were fine, but our other friend was really sick and he couldn’t stop vomiting,” she said.

“He had about seven or eight drinks and then he went somewhere else and had about four more drinks, and the next day he woke up and he couldn’t see anything.”

Ava had lunch with Anne-Sofie and Freja on November 12, and never saw them again. She thinks the women went out again that night, the same night Holly and Bianca got sick.

“They (Anne-Sofie and Freja) seemed fine when I saw them, but didn’t text us back the next day and we knew something was wrong,” she said.

“When we found out two Danish women had died, we had a feeling it was them.”

Holly and Bianca had been taken to separate hospitals in Thailand and placed on life support after November 13, but Ava and her friends had no idea.

Bangkok Hospital in Thailand treated one of the Australian teens. Picture: Chanakarn Laosarakham / AFP

She said bar staff didn’t say anything, they kept pouring free drinks for tourists.

“I feel like that was really important for people to know, it could have easily been us and it’s hard to process because there’s no reason it wouldn’t have been us,” she said.

Ava felt disturbed because she likely drank methanol, but not enough for it to impact her health.

Laos Police arrested eight management and staff members from Nana Backpacker Hostel.

No charges have been laid but all of those who were detained are of Vietnamese origin.

Sources in Laos claim that the Vietnamese mafia have a stranglehold on some businesses in the town and supply drugs to the hostels.

One source said the local government opened up areas like Vang Vieng to foreign investors, which was why many of the businesses were run by Vietnamese or Chinese nationals.

Staff at the Nana Backpackers Hostel are questioned by authorities and spirits sampled. Picture: David Caird

“In Laos, everything is so easy and if you do something bad or you break a rule, you can give the authorities money, so it can attract a lot of foreign investors,” he said.

“But not in this situation because it’s international and people have died – this was the mistake of the Vietnamese owners, it was not made by Laos people.”

Vang Vieng is on the edge of the Golden Triangle, a region that includes Laos, Myanmar and China’s borderlands, where most of the world’s heroin is produced.

The region has also become one of the world’s key production areas for ice and cut price ketamine.

The investigation into the mass methanol poisonings was expected to centre on what part of the supply chain that the deadly chemical was added.

As little as 25ml of methanol, less than a standard 30ml shot or nip of spirits, can kill.

Nana Backpackers was giving away Tiger Vodka its happy hour from 8pm to 10pm each night.

Bar staff would often give some tables an entire 700ml bottle to share, British backpacker Lucy Davison, who was hospitalised after drinking there, said.

A motorcyclist passes the Nana Backpackers Hostel in Vang Vieng on November 24, 2024. Picture: AFP

Tiger Vodka’s label, which looks similar to any spirits sold in Australia, says it is made in Xatmoungkhoun Village, Naxaythong District, Vientiane, a 90-minute drive from the Nana Backpackers.

An expat in Laos, who asked not to be named, said Tiger Vodka’s factories had never had complaints about quality control.

“I have spoken to tons of people, from Tiger Vodka’s main distributor in Vang Vieng, resellers, people who’ve been affected, embassies,” he said.

“Tiger Vodka has distributors in Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng, Vientiane and Pakse.

“It’s been sold in this country since 1980 without any issues.”

The Australian Government-run travel advice website Smartraveller issued a warning, urging Australians to avoid Tiger Vodka and Tiger Whisky due to “serious safety concerns”.

Authorities in Laos have banned Tiger Vodka and Tiger Whisky from being sold and consumed following the deaths of six tourists from suspected methanol poisoning.

Tiger Vodka sells for about $2 retail in Vang Vieng, but could be purchased cheaper wholesale.

Local moonshine, or home made versions of vodka, is sold for around 60 cents.

One line of inquiry that police were likely to pursue was whether bar staff mixed the Tiger Vodka with the local imitation spirits but served them in the branded bottles to save a few cents.

The local vodka was likely to be cheaper than adding bottled water to the bottles of spirits, which sometimes happens in Australian bars to stretch out alcohol.

Most of the methanol victims have stayed at Nana Backpacker Hostel, who denied any wrongdoing, with one bartender pouring a Tiger Vodka and drinking it in front of us when we visited the backpackers last week.

There have been reports of poisonings at nearby Jaidee’s Bar, which the staff denied when asked in person.

The reports of poisonings from other locations also raise the question of whether methanol was added at the wholesale level in Vang Vieng.

Australian Federal Police, who have a presence in Laos, have offered to assist local authorities.

The families of Holly and Bianca have demanded a full investigation, with Laos Police searching for witnesses, many of whom have already left the country.

Originally published as Video shows Holly Bowles, Bianca Jones partying before Laos mass methanol poisoning