Six backpackers, including Aussie, Kiwi, US and British have died in Vang Vien, Laos. See https://www.theguardian.com/australi...isation-ntwnfb . Apparently the bar in question had been lacing cocktails with methanol.

Our nieces passed through there early this year on the gap year trip. Of all the things we warned them of before they left, this was not one of them. It is not uncommon in other parts of Asia - it has happened in Bali, Thailand etc. If any of you have young family travelling in Asia warn them to be on their guard in back-packer hangouts offering cheap cocktails.

Not just "backpacker hangouts." Someone I knew died after her own wedding reception in Bali, her new husband a Balinese man & the moonshine presumably provided by people the family knew.

Home brew is served all over, to residents & visitors alike. Best not to partake in this particular cultural activity. I've had some in Laos myself in an off-the beaten-path local drinking spot. I'm sure those serving it are mostly unaware when they've got a bad batch & mean no harm. Best to drink from sealed bottles of commercially produced beverages, even if you think you may offend your host. This is a real thing.

This part is unclear, and the article you posted doesn't say this. The hostel/bar owner is claiming innocence: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ced-shots.html

The alcohol could have been tainted before it reached the hostel, or it could have been someone at the hostel. I've read several articles on this story, and I haven't read anything showing there's evidence either way as to who is at fault. I think anything is possible.

That being said, whatever party is at fault, it's a terrible story...

So sad. Thanks for bringing attention to this issue.

Lax, I linked only one of numerous articles about this tragedy. Some named the place, some went into more detail. FWIW the Mail has a terrible reputation in the UK usually with only a tenuous link to the facts of anything it is reporting. As for the owner denying knowledge- what a surprise!

M Perdue- I don’t think this case is related to homebrew/ moonshine which is very common in the villages all over Laos and is distilled from fermented rice wine. I believe is is all about cocktails using methanol (used in car anti freeze and other industrial processes) and is very cheap, in order to attract backpackers .

kja - a tragedy indeed. It seems to be making the news everywhere. Hopefully travellers will see reports ( and stick to beer! )

Yes, methanol. No, not just backpacker bars.

https://www.myheraldreview.com/bisbe...a87ba7b79.html

Merci beaucoup Crellston, for this valuable link plus your extra comments. What a way to go.
And what a horrible phone call for loved ones.
I am done. the end

Again, can you link to an article that actually backs up your suggestion that the hostel is the party at fault? I've read several articles from various sources, as have you. I didn't see a single article in any source with credible information about who is at fault. I know the Mail is a sensational tabloid, but they're not making any claims in any direction as to who is at fault. I'm curious where you're getting your information that the hostel is the guilty party, as opposed to someone else.

Further to my previous post, here's a BBC article pointing out that it's generally hard to tell who is at fault in these cases and suggesting that it's generally more likely to be the producer's fault than the bar's fault: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cde7j9j76x0o

So I wouldn't be so quick to blame the hostel owner, especially without credible sources reporting evidence that he's at fault.

Thank you Crellston for informing us of this.

You are welcome zebec and jacketwatch. Yes it must have been a terrible phone call for those parents to receive and I am very thankful that it wasn't my brother in law that was took one of those phone calls.

Latest reports are that the hostel owner has now been arrested. Of course the owner is at fault, either entirely or partially, it is they that supplied the drinks that

LAX , such a shame that you feel the need to embark upon some sort of points scoring/b;ame allocation on such a serious issue. Having looked back at a few of your previous posts, I cant say I am surprised as you do seem to make a habit of being deliberately confrontational and argumentative. Sorry but I just cannot be bothered to engage, I have much better things to do.

I'm not familiar with the Laotian justice system, and I doubt you are either, but in the US, a bartender who served guests a sealed bottle of Gray Goose vodka that happened to be poison (unbeknownst to him) wouldn't be one bit liable.

I too have seen reports that the hotel owner has been arrested. That doesn't mean it's the hotel, not the supplier, who is responsible for the methanol. We don't know what evidence the government has against him, or even what level of evidence the government needs to have to effectuate an arrest in Laos. For all we know, it could be a "round up the usual suspects" situation. They might have something on him. Or they might not. Who knows.

It's premature at this point to make conclusions. With UK and Australian citizens dead and those governments hopefully watching over the investigation, I would hope that the local authorities will conduct a serious and speedy investigation and we will soon know the truth. Until then, let's not make judgments.

You're the one who allocated blame to the hostel: "Apparently the bar in question had been lacing cocktails with methanol." I'm the one saying there's not yet evidence to allocate blame.

There's no reason for you to make this personal. Let's just stick to the facts. You made a serious accusation against the hostel, which is totally unsupported by any media report that I've read and you haven't brought forward any of your own support for your serious accusation.

I'm not looking to fight with you. I just think people reading this should know it's not necessarily the hostel owner who is at fault. And it's important for travelers to SE Asia to know it may be suppliers, not individual bars, who are the ones responsible for poisonous alcohol. This means that one needs to be cautious of what they're drinking not just at some dodgy backpacker bar, but also even at a "nice" establishment.

Now the liquor brand/factory has been shut down, and the owner of the liquor factory has been arrested:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12-...ning/104668686

This seems to be heading in the direction of being an issue with the production, rather than an issue with the hostel.

This has been such a tragedy. Two local Melbourne teenagers have died and the news has been quite focused on it but it's a twist that the manufacturer is in custody. The focus had been on the hostel owner, last I'd heard.

Terrible tragedy. Seems like the death count is still at 6, which means the other victims have hopefully recovered. The "experts" had been speculating the whole time that it's more likely a production issue, so perhaps this isn't such a twist.

That being said, who knows what's really been going on with the investigation. Not many details of the investigation have been released, and most of the Western reporting is sloppy guesswork based on very little official sourcing (and Western reports basically regurgitating other Western reports without any actual reporting at all). For example, there were reports that the hostel owner and a number of other employees were detained -- did that mean detained for questioning (an reasonable move)? are they still being detained? are they being detained indefinitely until proven innocent? have they been charged with anything? Laos is a corrupt, dysfunctional communist country, and we shouldn't expect the investigation to function like it would in a Western country. There are more questions than answers.

According to your link:
The owner of the factory, as well as three more foreign nationals who were working at Nana Backpackers Hostel, have been arrested but no charges have been laid.Two Indian men, aged 24 and 30, and a 35-year-old Filipino woman have joined the eight Vietnamese staff members who were arrested earlier this week.

No charges have been laid.
-------------------

That would be 12 arrests and 0 indictments.

I haven't spent enough time in Laos to grasp their system's effectiveness or corruption. Consistent policing would be a challenge for even the most trustworthy law enforcement in a resource-strapped place like Laos I wonder if they'll ever grab the right person?

Sounds like they're casting a pretty wide net. What are the chances an entire hostel staff, foreigners from other countries, were collaborative participants in poisoning these western tourists?

It surprises me that in a fairly poor country like Laos, the best option to staff the place wouldn't be local residents but a crew of Vietnamese and Indians. Less of a surprise that they'd all be swept up in the search even though there's got to be fairly little chance that this was some sort of group plot.

The hotel is Vietnamese owned, apparently: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/e...ers-rcna181963

So it makes sense that they'd have a bunch of Vietnamese staff. Don't think there's anything alarming there.

You're right that there's very little chance of some massive group plot at the hotel. As I said above, this reeks of "round up the usual suspects." Bumbling incompetent Laotian authorities can just arrest a bunch of random hotel employees and hold them indefinitely so they can make it look like they're doing something for the Western countries who are demanding answers and results.

Who knows who really has been arrested and what else the media isn't properly reporting or isn't are of that's happening, but it also baffles me that they've seemingly arrested 10+ hotel employees and only one factory person (the owner). If you're going to just randomly arrest every hotel employee for the heck of it or to try to get people to talk, why not arrest some factory employees? If the factory was doing dirty (which is most likely the case), surely someone else besides the owner knew about it. None of this investigation makes any sense, but then again, we don't know what's really going on.

Yes, agree with you as far as rounding up the usual suspects. I hadn't realised the hostel was Vietnamese owned but yes, still - it only makes sense to arrest that many staff unless there was some other motivation as well.

Do you know if there have been any reports of tainted alcohol from this same factory turning up elsewhere?

Just putting on my food manufacturing hat.... It would be quite odd if this stemmed from the factory as part of the processing, (maybe trying to lower costs or last-minute ad hoc sourcing) unless they found more methanol wherever else it was shipped. If strictly localised, I'd think it had to come down to one person at either location tampering with the product for whatever reason. If no other tainted bottles turn up, my money is someone not realising alcohols are not interchangeable and having something to personally gain (assuming someone's not just nuts) Stretching out the booze to save some kip or to hide that they'd already drank a bit of the real liquor.

I haven't seen any such media reports, and everything I've read shows that all the victims were served this Tiger brand alcohol at this one particular hostel.

You do raise good questions.

One additional thing to consider, in terms of whether this is a localized or a widespread issue, is that there may be other victims of tainted Tiger alcohol that we're just not hearing about. We're only hearing about the victims from the hostel because they're Westerners and the Western media / governments are on the case. If other bottles of this tainted Tiger alcohol were served at some local bars and a bunch of locals got sick and/or died, the local government could surely suppress the story and nobody would know about it.