By Ben Knight and ABC staff
Police last week forcibly closed the Nana hostel, where most of the victims had stayed.
Photo: ABC / Mitchell Woolnough
Laos police have detained eight men over a suspected methanol poisoning that killed six backpackers, including two Australians.
Laos police told the ABC the detained men were staff and management of the Nana Backpackers hostel, where Australian teenagers Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles were staying when they fell ill.
The friends had consumed alcoholic drinks while holidaying in the backpacker party town of Vang Vieng, and later died in separate hospitals in Thailand.
Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles, both 19, died after drinking tainted cocktails in Laos.
Photo: ABC/Supplied
A further four foreign tourists from Denmark, the UK and the US have also died.
It has emerged that another Australian, a dual national, may also have fallen victim to methanol poisoning.
Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) is supporting that person, who is in a stable condition.
On Monday, the New Zealand embassy in Thailand confirmed one of its citizens was suspected to have been poisoned by methanol in Vang Vieng around the same time as the other victims.
They had since returned home after being hospitalised, but the embassy did not provide details of their condition.
British woman Lucy Davison also said on social media last week she spent five days in a Vientiane hospital after being poisoned around the same time.
The parents of the two Melbourne girls, along with the Australian government, have been calling for a thorough and transparent investigation into their deaths.
Bianca Jones’s father, Mark, urged the Laos government to investigate to the fullest extent, so the loss of his “beautiful girl” was not in vain.
Police in Laos last week forcibly shut down the Nana hostel, where five of the six victims who died were staying.
They questioned staff including the bartender and owner, while the Laos government vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice.
A DFAT spokesperson on Tuesday night said they were continuing to provide consular assistance to the families of the two Melbourne girls.
“Australian officials in Laos and Thailand are working closely with local authorities. Investigations are underway and we are offering any assistance we can provide.”
– ABC