Category Archives: Laos

Alcohol safety ads to target young Australian travellers amid push for answers over methanol deaths

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Penny Wong says families of Laos poisoning victims Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles ‘foremost in mind’ as Smarttraveller campaign announced

The Australian government will launch a new alcohol safety campaign targeting young travellers as the families of Melbourne teenagers Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles, who died after drinking alcohol tainted with methanol while on holiday in Laos, continue to push for answers.

The friends, both 19, died in November last year while on holiday in Laos, in a suspected mass methanol poisoning that resulted in the deaths of six foreign tourists.

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Be careful with drinks while travelling, says mother of British lawyer who died in Laos

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Simone White, 28, was one of six tourists to die in a suspected methanol poisoning at Vang Vieng hostel

The mother of a British lawyer who died after being served a drink that was allegedly spiked with methanol has said if it can happen to her daughter it can happen to anyone.

Simone White, 28, from Orpington, Kent, was one of six tourists killed in the popular backpacking town of Vang Vieng after an alleged mass poisoning. She was taken in for surgery just as her mother, Sue, 61, arrived at the hospital. It later became clear that Simone’s brain function was gone, and she died on Thursday 21 November.

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Laos bans sale and consumption of vodka and whisky brand following suspected mass methanol poisoning

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Ban comes after two Australian teenagers, two Danish citizens, an American and a Briton became ill, and later died, after drinking in Vang Vieng

Lao authorities have banned the sale and consumption of a brand of whisky and vodka after the death of six tourists from a suspected mass methanol poisoning this month.

According to Smartraveller, the Australian government’s travel advice website, the drinks Tiger vodka and Tiger whisky have been prohibited by the Laos government due to “concerns about these products being a health risk”.

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Eight Laos hostel staff held over suspected methanol poisoning deaths

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Manager and seven staff at Nana backpackers hostel detained after death of six tourists

Police in Laos have detained the manager of a backpacker hostel in Vang Vieng as well as seven of its staff after the deaths of six tourists in a suspected mass methanol poisoning.

Two Danish citizens, an American, a Briton and two Australians died after becoming ill after a night out in the small riverside town. A third Australian, a dual national, also fell ill, and is understood to be in a stable condition.

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Third Australian fell ill after suspected mass methanol poisoning in Laos

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Exclusive: Dual national understood to be in stable condition after tragedy which has claimed six lives

A third Australian also fell ill after a suspected mass methanol poisoning in Laos that has claimed six lives, Guardian Australia has confirmed.

Melburnians Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles, both 19, died in hospital in Thailand after the tragedy, which also claimed the lives of people from Denmark, the UK and the US.

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Australian police offer to help Laos investigation into suspected methanol deaths as Melbourne teenagers mourned

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Prime minister pays tribute to Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles while families vow to turn tragedy into ‘mission for change’

Australian federal police have offered to help the Laos investigation into multiple deaths linked to a suspected mass methanol poisoning event.

Melburnians Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles, both 19, were among six foreign tourists to die.

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Parents of teenagers who died in suspected Laos methanol poisoning hope deaths ‘not in vain’

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Bianca Jones’s father urged Laos government to investigate deaths to the ‘fullest’ and ensure it could not happen again

Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones’s devastated families have pleaded with Laos authorities to get to the bottom of a mass methanol poisoning tragedy.

The Australians, both 19, are among six foreign tourists who have died from a suspected methanol poisoning event in Laos.

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Laos government ‘profoundly saddened’ by deaths of tourists in Vang Vieng

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Six foreign visitors died earlier this month after suspected methanol poisoning during night out in backpacker hotspot

The Lao government has said it is “profoundly saddened” by the deaths of foreign tourists in Vang Vieng and has promised justice, as tributes were paid to victims of a suspected mass methanol poisoning which has claimed six lives.

Two Danish citizens, two Australians, an American, and a Briton died after becoming ill following a night out in the small riverside town, a popular destination for backpackers.

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Teammates tie ribbons as community mourns Melbourne teens after suspected methanol poisoning

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Players heard news of Holly Bowles’ death as they gathered to remember her friend Bianca Jones, Beaumaris Football Club says

Tributes have continued to flow for two Melbourne teenagers who died while holidaying in southeast Asia, after the death toll from a suspected methanol poisoning in Laos rose to six.

Holly Bowles, 19, died on Friday in a Bangkok hospital, one day after her best friend, Bianca Jones, also 19, died in another Thai hospital.

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Tributes paid to ‘kind and loving’ British tourist who died in Laos

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Simone White was one of six people to die in suspected methanol poisoning incident in Vang Vieng

Tributes have been paid to the “beautiful, kind and loving” British tourist Simone White, one of six people to die in a suspected mass methanol poisoning in Laos.

The six died after allegedly being served drinks laced with methanol in Vang Vieng, a town popular with backpackers. These include the Australian teenagers Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles, both 19, an American man and two Danish women aged 19 and 20.

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Second Melbourne teen, Holly Bowles, dies after a suspected methanol poisoning in Laos

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The 19-year-old’s death comes as Vang Vieng’s tourism police says manager and owner of Nana backpacker hostel taken in for questioning

A second Australian teenager, Holly Bowles, has died after suspected methanol poisoning in Laos, it has been confirmed.

The 19-year-old’s death comes just one day after her friend Bianca Jones also died in a Thai hospital. The pair had been travelling through Laos together and fell ill a week ago.

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British lawyer among six to die in suspected methanol poisoning in Laos

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As well as Simone White, two Danes, an American and two Australians have died after incident in town popular with backpackers

A British lawyer is among six people to have died in a suspected mass methanol poisoning in Laos.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said it was “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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Melbourne teen Bianca Jones dies in hospital after methanol poisoning in Laos

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A New Zealand citizen is also ill, while a US citizen has died following a suspected mass poisoning event in the town of Vang Vieng

Melbourne teen Bianca Jones has died from methanol poisoning in a Thai hospital, a week after the Melbourne teen and her best friend fell ill while travelling in neighbouring Laos.

Anthony Albanese confirmed the 19-year-old’s death on Thursday, after her parents travelled to Thailand to be with her.

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‘Every parent’s nightmare’: family of Melbourne teen fighting for life after feared methanol poisoning hopes for answers

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Parents ‘want to ensure no other family’ feels same anguish as Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles remain in Thai hospitals

The family of one of two teenagers fighting for life in hospital after a suspected methanol poisoning incident in Laos hope authorities work out exactly what happened “as soon as possible”.

Melbourne friends Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles, both aged 19, had been staying at a hostel in Vang Vieng, north of the Laos capital Vientiane, when they fell critically ill last week.

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Melbourne best friends on ‘dream getaway’ before feared methanol poisoning in Laos left them fighting for life

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Teenagers Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles in hospitals in neighbouring Thailand after incident last week

Two Australian teenagers are fighting for their lives in Thailand after a suspected methanol poisoning in neighbouring Laos, with the family of one them saying they were struggling to comprehend what had happened.

Friends Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles from Melbourne had been staying at a hostel in Vang Vieng, north of the Laos capital, Vientiane, when they fell critically ill last week, 3AW reported.

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Rights groups call on Laos to release lawyer held after fleeing China

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Sixty-eight organisations sign letter amid fears Lu Siwei could be deported at request of Chinese authorities

Sixty-eight human rights groups have signed an open letter calling on the Laos government to release Lu Siwei, a Chinese former human rights lawyer detained by Laotian police near Vientiane last week.

Lu was seized by police on Friday as he attempted to board a train from Laos to Thailand, where he planned to catch a flight to the US to join his wife and daughter. Nearly one week later, he appears to still be held in Laotian immigration detention, despite reportedly being told that he would be deported to China.

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Human rights lawyer fleeing China is arrested in Laos

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Activists and family members fear Lu Siwei will be deported back to China, where he could be sent to prison

A Chinese rights lawyer stripped of his licence for taking on sensitive cases has been arrested in Laos, and activists and family members are worried he will be deported back to China, where he could be jailed.

Lu Siwei was seized by Laotian police on Friday morning while boarding a train for Thailand. He was on his way to Bangkok to catch a flight to the US to join his wife and daughter.

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Climate breakdown made southern Asia heatwave at least 2C hotter, study finds

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Temperatures up to 45C recorded in April in parts of India, Bangladesh, Thailand and Laos

A searing heatwave in parts of southern Asia in April was made at least 30 times more likely by climate breakdown, according to a study by international scientists.

Unusually high temperatures of up to 45C (113F) were recorded last month in monitoring stations in parts of India, Bangladesh, Thailand and Laos.

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Weather tracker: Vietnam and Laos set records for highest-ever temperatures

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Records for countries broken just weeks after temperature in Thailand rose above 45C for the first time

All-time temperature records were broken in Vietnam and Laos last week. On 6 May, Hoi Xuan in Vietnam reached a scorching 44.1C, breaking the previous record for the country of 43.4C, set in 2019. On the same day, Laos recorded its highest-ever temperature, , which reached 43.5C in Luang Prabang. These records were set just a few weeks after temperatures in Thailand rose above 45C for the first time.

A breakdown of the heat in south-east Asia is expected to occur in the next few days as a tropical disturbance is likely to develop nearby. Forecast models suggest that, over the coming days, the Bay of Bengal will have the perfect conditions for cyclogenesis to occur. By later this week, several factors, including enhanced vorticity and very high sea surface temperatures, will enhance the chance that a tropical storm will edge north-eastwards into parts of Myanmar. This will bring some strong winds and significant rainfall to south-east Asia, including the areas that have recently seen their temperature records broken.

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Laos activist Anousa Luangsuphom gunned down in cafe attack

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Rights groups call for urgent and independent investigation into killing of government critic

A prominent activist and critic of the government in Laos has been shot dead in an attack at a coffee shop in the capital, Vientiane.

Anousa “Jack” Luangsuphom, 25, who runs a Facebook page where people share criticism of the government, was sitting in a cafe in Vientiane on 29 April when the attack happened.

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