COPS have detained the owner of a backpacker hostel where a group of tourists were staying before five of them died in a suspected poisoning.
British lawyer Simone White, 28, from Orpington, Kent, died on Thursday after she fell ill from drinking free shots laced with methanol while in Laos, South East Asia.
The boss of Nana Backpacker Hostel in the popular tourist hotspot of Vang Vieng was detained by local police for questioning, ABC reports.
It was at the hostel bar where the holidaymakers were served free drinks – suspected to have made them ill.
Five people in total have died since drinking them last week – including a 19-year-old woman from Melbourne called Bianca Jones.
Two Danish women and an American man also died.
At least 11 people, including Brits, remain in hospital after allegedly being served laced drinks.
Simone’s friend Bethany Clarke – also in hospital – raised the alarm with an urgent warning on the Laos Backpacking Facebook group.
She wrote: “Urgent — please avoid all local spirits. Our group stayed in Vang Vieng and we drank free shots offered by one of the bars.
“Just avoid them as so not worth it. Six of us who drank from the same place are in hospital currently with methanol poisoning.”
Bethany added that she was “very fatigued and then fainted, then just felt nauseous and then my liver started to shut down”.
She continued: “I got to the private hospital in time but underwent many infusions and tablets and days of recovery.”
The Foreign Office yesterday confirmed it was supporting Simone’s family.
A spokesman said: “We are supporting the family of a British woman who has died in Laos, and we are in contact with the local authorities.”
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