US citizen the third suspected death in Laos drink poisoning tragedy

Udon Thani/Vang Vieng: An American man is the third person suspected to have died after a mass drink poisoning in Laos that killed young Danish women and left two Australian teens fighting for their lives.

The US State Department on Thursday confirmed the death of one of its citizens in Vang Vieng, a tourist town where at least 10 people became seriously ill last week from drinking spirits believed to be laced with methanol, a cheap and deadly form of alcohol mostly found in crude or criminal brews.

Bianca Jones (left) and Holly Bowles are fighting for their lives in separate Thai hospitals.

Melbourne friends Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles had been backpacking there alongside travellers from all over the world until a night out on November 11 and 12. They had been drinking at the bar of their accommodation, Nana Backpacker Hostel, but their movements in Vang Vieng after this were unclear.

The State Department said it was “closely monitoring” the situation. The spokesperson declined to provide specific dates or details about the American victim but said that he died while still in Vang Vieng. Most, if not all, the other victims were moved to bigger hospitals in the capital, Vientiane, or in neighbouring Thailand.

It was up to local authorities to determine the cause of death, the US said. While this has not yet happened, or at least not publicly announced, Laotian authorities are believed to be investigating it as a poisoning.

Denmark’s Foreign Ministry had earlier confirmed two of its citizens, aged 19 or 20, had died.

This masthead has also been told the case had reached the highest levels of the Laos government and that senior figures had ordered further work.

Accordingly, police appeared to be escalating what had been a lacklustre and low-profile investigation.

More than a week after people became sick, a group of officials, including a police chief, went to the hostel on Wednesday and confiscated bottles for testing in Vientiane.

It was unknown whether investigators from the other visit, which happened shortly after victims emerged, had taken samples. In any case, the bar at Nana continued to serve guests despite its links to at least some of the victims.

Nana Backpacker Hostel manager Duong Duc Toan with a bottle of vodka.Credit: AP

The manager of the hostel, Duong Duc Toan, said this week that he served the Australian 19-year-olds free shots of local vodka but denied this was what made them sick.

He said other guests notified staff that the Melbourne teens were unwell. They failed to check out as planned on November 13, and he said the hostel then arranged hospital transport for them. Both were flown to Thailand in critical condition.

Toan said the Australian women had joined more than 100 other guests for free shots of Laotian vodka offered by the hostel as a gesture of hospitality.

The hostel said the women started drinking at the bar at 8pm and left about 10.30pm, going elsewhere for the rest of the night and returning in the early hours of the morning. He said no other guests reported any issue.

Backpackers inside the Nana Backpacker Hostel, Vang Vieng on Tuesday.

When this masthead visited the hostel on Tuesday afternoon, Toan produced a bottle of Tiger Vodka he said he served the women, pouring himself a drink and finishing it.

The bottle said the vodka was 40 per cent alcohol and distilled in the southern part of Vientiane. He said he hoped the police investigation would clear his name.

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