Just a few weeks ago, new images reveal that Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones were two teenagers dancing in their room for TikTok, about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime.
The two Melbourne teenagers planned their dream getaway to Asia, drinking in packed bars, swimming on tropical beaches and living their best life on a gap year.
But one night in a busy bar in Laos left them in hospital, fighting for their lives after their drinks were contaminated with methanol from jungle liquor.
The best friends, both 19, are now on life support in separate hospitals for suspected methanol poisoning. Their parents are at their bedsides in Bangkok and Udon Thani.
Authorities suspect they drank poisoned cocktails while on vacation in the party town of Vang Vieng, Laos.
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 motorbike before they were both taken to separate hospitals in neighboring Thailand after their conditions rapidly deteriorated.
In a video from September, the best friends danced happily together.
The video Bowles posted showed the couple riding mopeds and having fun.
The party town of Vang Vieng, Laos, is known for its nightlife.
Heartbreaking security cameras from inside the shelter showed one of the girls being taken to the hospital.
But three weeks before they got sick, the teens were having a great time on their trip.
Bowles posted a video on TikTok with the caption “always grateful for this place and the people,” followed by the Thai flag emoji.
The video showed the friends taking in jungle views, singing karaoke, riding jet skis, and generally having a good time.
Another video posted in September showed the couple dancing happily together. “Back and better than ever,” read the caption while boogeying Michael Jackson.
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.
Holly’s father, Shaun Bowles, spoke to media in Bangkok on Wednesday and said his daughter remained in critical condition.
“She’s on life support,” he told 7 NEWS.
The couple’s Melbourne football club said the news was “tragic and distressing”.
‘We would just like to thank everyone at home for all the support and love we are receiving, but we would also like people to appreciate that right now we just need privacy so we can spend as much time with Acebo as possible.’
At home, the friends were both players for Beaumaris Football Club, which said on Wednesday their situation was “tragic and distressing”.
“Through their exploits and involvement in the girls’ and women’s soccer programs, both Holly and Bianca have become beloved and highly respected members of the Beaumaris Sharks family,” the club said.
“We recognize that Holly and Bianca’s teammates and friends at the club are struggling to come to terms with what has happened.”
Meanwhile, the Lao waiter who served drinks to Bowles and Jones claimed that he was not the one who poisoned the girls.
Hostel manager Duong Duc Toan, who served the girls the Tiger Vodka, said it was not his drink that made them sick.
Toan said he bought the alcohol from a certified distributor and insisted that neither he nor his staff had contaminated it.
He said the drinks, a gesture of hospitality, were served to about 100 guests and the lodge had not received any other complaints.
The girls were staying at the Nana Backpackers Hostel in Laos when they fell ill.
To prove his point, the bartender drank from one of the vodka bottles that were in use that night to prove that it was safe.
Toan said Holly and Bianca were in the bar playing cards from 8pm to 10.30pm and had three drinks each during that time.
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.
Local media report that two more women in their 20s have died, along with a 56-year-old American man, and 10 other people have fallen ill in the suspected mass poisoning.
Holly and Bianca’s ordeal is part of an alleged mass poisoning. In total, fourteen people are believed to have fallen ill from the mixed drinks and two, believed to be Swedish citizens, died.
Lao police have launched an investigation.