Multiple staff from a backpacker hostel at the centre of a suspected mass poisoning in Laos, which claimed the lives of six foreign tourists, have been arrested by police.
Eight men aged 23-47, from the Nana Backpacker Hostel in Vang Vieng are in custody following arrests by police on Monday, a local news site reported.
All of those detained by Vang Vieng police are believed to be Vietnamese nationals.
Melbourne teenagers Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles, both aged 19, were among six foreign tourists who died last week after falling ill while staying at the hostel.
The best friends were evacuated to separate hospitals in Thailand on November 13.
Ms Jones died surrounded by loved ones in Udon Thani hospital last Thursday before Ms Bowles died in nearby Bangkok Hospital the next day.
Their bodies were onboard a repatriation flight home to Australia on Tuesday night, with their parents also on the same flight.
Two Danish women Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20, and Frela Vennervald Sorensen, 21, US man James Louis Hutson, 57 and British lawyer Simone White, 28, also died from after drinking contaminated drinks.
Melbourne teenager Bianca Jones (pictured) died after a suspected mass methanol poisoning in Laos
Eight staff from the Nana Backpacker Hostel, where Melbourne teenager Holly Bowles (above) died after drinking a contaminated beverage, were arrested on Monday
Local reports suggest another 12 foreign tourists were hospitalised after drinking at the Nana Backpacker Hostel.
Early testing indicated methanol was present in beer and spirits at the venue.
It’s understood some guests staying there were given free shots at the hostel bar on November 11, before a number of backpackers, including Bowles and Jones, continued onto other bars before falling ill the following day.
Nana Backpackers has since been shut down while the investigation into the deaths continues.
Those arrested included a ‘Mr Yeungvanhoun, 34, Mr Hongieng Manhoung, 38, Mr Bouyvandat 35, Mr Jikkauk, 23, Mr Yeungduktoun 47, Mr Hngiengsuieng, 28, Guang Chung 44, along with an eighth man, 42, Lao Phatthana News reported.
Those arrested included general staff and managers.
There is no suggestion that those detained are responsible for the tourists’ deaths.
Despite six deaths being linked to methanol poisoning, police only referred to three deaths in their official statement,
Early testing indicated methanol was present in beer and spirits served at the Nana Backpacker Hostel (pictured)
The report did not include the Australian teenagers or the British victim Ms White.
‘The initial cause of the death of the number of tourists is expected because of drinking poisonous drinks and other problems caused three deaths,’ the report said.
‘Investigation Unit is still in the process of co-ordinating with ministries, departments, agencies and relevant stakeholders to collect data and collect samples to find out unidentified information on deaths of foreign tourists this time to be clarified quickly on the basis of inspection, verifying the results of scientific research.’
News of the arrest emerged as allegations collected in a survey by a grieving backpacker who was friends with the two deceased Danish women – claimed staff failed to help the pair when they became ill.
One of the women he surveyed claimed she’d helped Ms Coyman and Ms Sorensen when the pair began showing signs of methanol poisoning said the hostel refused to call an ambulance for them, even when one began having a seizure.
Instead, a female worker allegedly began massaging the seizing woman’s toes and feet while saying, ‘I’m saving her, don’t worry’, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Staff also allegedly claimed Ms Coyman and Ms Sorensen were suffering panic attacks, rather than fatal poisoning.
The woman’s story contradicts the account shared by state-owned media that the Danish women were found by staff on the floor of their bathroom.
It comes three days after the Laos Government broke its silence on the suspected mass poisoning.
Bianca Jones (left) died surrounded by loved ones in Udon Thani hospital last Thursday before her best friend Holly Bowles (right) died in nearby Bangkok Hospital the next day
On Saturday, authorities vowed to ‘bring the perpetrators to justice’ and said they were ‘deeply saddened’ by the tragedy.
‘The government of the Lao PDR is profoundly saddened over the loss of lives of foreign tourists in Vangvieng District, Vientiane Province and expresses its sincere sympathy and deepest condolences to the families of the deceased,’ it said.
‘The government of the Lao PDR has been conducting investigations to find causes of the incident and to bring the perpetrators to justice in accordance with the law.
‘The government of the Lao PDR reaffirms that it always attaches the importance and pays attention to the safety of both domestic and foreign tourists.’
A woman who claimed she helped the two deceased Danish women alleged staff at the hostel (pictured) refused to call them an ambulance
