Shelter staff recalled how two Australian teenagers now fighting for their lives called for help and claimed they couldn’t breathe after consuming drinks containing methanol.
Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones, both 19 from Melbourne, are on life support in separate hospitals after falling ill while staying at Nana Backpackers Hostel in Laos last week.
The best friends were on a gap year trip for a ‘dream getaway’ through Southeast Asia when authorities suspect they drank poisoned cocktails allegedly containing contaminated ‘vodka’ shots while on holiday in the party town of Vang Vieng .
They were among a large group of international travelers who fell victim to what is feared to be a suspected mass poisoning that has already claimed the lives of two other tourists.
The staff at Nana Backpackers Hostel became concerned when Holly and Bianca were unable to leave their room for almost a full day.
They spent the day sleeping before asking the receptionist to take them to the hospital.
They were transported one by one by a shelter worker on his motorcycle before they were both taken to separate hospitals in neighboring Thailand after their conditions rapidly deteriorated.
A staff member told Herald of the sun that the girls were very calm when they left the rooms to seek medical assistance.
Melbourne teenager Bianca Jones (pictured) is on life support after drinking methanol-infused cocktails while on holiday in Laos.
Bianca’s best friend Holly Bowles (pictured) is also fighting for her life in hospital.
‘No one found them, they walked to the reception. They spent the whole day in his room. “We didn’t know what was happening with them because they go out partying,” he said.
‘They are coming to say to my staff, please can you help me? Take me to the hospital. They’re having trouble breathing, the night shift staff rushes her to the hospital.’
It has also been revealed that Mrs. Jones and Mrs. Bowles They had been drinking spirits at the hostel bar next to their ground-floor unit the night before they fell ill.
Toan Van Vanng, a bartender who was working when the girls were last seen, told the publication that they were not poisoned in his bar.
He served them a Tiger vodka from the Lao People’s Democratic Republic containing 40 percent alcohol and mixed it with ice and Coca-Cola Zero.
Vanng said he bought the alcohol from a certified distributor and insisted it had not been contaminated by him or his staff.
To prove his point, Mr Vanng drank from one of the vodka bottles used that night to prove it was safe.
Bowles and Jones began drinking at 8:00 p.m. when happy hour began and eventually left the bar at 10:30 p.m., according to Vanng.
He said they only had three drinks each while playing cards.
A hostel manager said the fact that guests from several different hostels were poisoned with contaminated drinks proves it didn’t happen at his bar.
“At this time the police are ordering all hostels, hotels and bars to stop selling drinks in Vang Vieng,” he told the publication.
Toan Van Vanng, a bartender who was working when the girls were last seen, insists they were not poisoned in his bar.
The teenagers were staying at the Nana Backpackers Hostel in Laos last week when they felt unwell.
The girls had embarked on their journeys to celebrate their recent graduation from Mentone Girls’ Grammar and Beaumaris Secondary College in 2023.
It is understood they had planned to return home in time for Christmas.
Two of the fourteen people believed to have been poisoned by the mixed drinks have now died. The couple are believed to have been Swedish citizens.
The teens’ families have made the mercy trip to Thailand to be by the teens’ side and are “praying” that the couple makes it out alive.
Mrs. Jones’ family says “I can’t believe what has happened to our angel.”
“Our beautiful Bianca was on a dream getaway with her best friend Holly,” they said. the Herald of the Sun.
“They were full of joy and had incredible adventures ahead of them, traveling around Asia.”
Bowles’ uncle Dale said the stress of the ordeal was having a monumental impact on families now split between Australia and Thailand.
“There’s just a sick feeling in your stomach that just won’t go away,” he said.
“It’s just a daily process right now…all we can ask you to do is keep fighting.”
Workers at Frank’s cafe in Cheltenham, where Ms Bowles has worked for more than two years, described the teenager as a lovely person.
‘She’s just an absolute star. She is a bundle of joy. “To know her is to love her,” the cafe manager, who did not want to be identified, told The Age.
Australian authorities are providing consular assistance to the teens’ families.
The girls were staying at Nana Backpackers Hostel (pictured) in Laos, where they had been drinking in the hostel bar the night before falling ill on November 12.
Nana Backpackers Hostel has been removed from the Hostel World booking site following methanol poisoning.
Another tourist who arrived at the hostel after the girls were rushed to the hospital said he was surprised to have received a discount when he got there.
After learning what happened, the backpacker said: “I’ve never had a discount before, I should have seen that.”
Methanol is a toxic alcohol normally found in industrial products and is usually fatal if ingested and untreated.
Drinking between 25 and 90 ml is enough to cause death.
Symptoms of methanol poisoning include abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, difficulty breathing, blindness and seizures.
According to the Methanol Institute, in countries with high alcohol taxes, the chemical is often mixed with alcoholic beverages as a cheaper alternative to ethanol.
The Australian government’s Smartraveller website is warning tourists to be careful in Southeast Asia after a series of similar poisonings occurred recently.
‘Alcohol production is less regulated in some destinations than in Australia. This may lead to methanol being used in the production process to reduce costs,” Smartraveller’s warning states.
‘Methanol is very toxic. A single shot can be fatal. Locals and foreigners, including Australians, have died or become seriously ill from poisoned drinks in destinations including Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Costa Rica and Türkiye.’