While most travel advisories focus on people staying aware of surroundings while walking around an unfamiliar city, another common danger hides in drinking at resorts, bars and other tourist areas.
This week, authorities in Laos said six tourists from different countries died by poisoning after consuming alcohol tainted with methanol at a hotel bar in the resort town of Vang Vieng.
Located at the base of both the mountains and the Nam Song river, the small resort town in the northwest of the country has in recent years become popular with tourists looking for adventure-based activities such as hiking, rock climbing and kayaking.
The victims included two Danish women in their early 20s, a 57-year-old American man, two Australian teenagers and a London lawyer.
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3 nations issue alerts about alcohol poisoning
In response, the governments of the U.S., Canada and Denmark have issued advisories for citizens thinking of traveling to Laos.
“[We are] aware of a number of cases of suspected methanol poisoning in Vang Vieng, possibly through the consumption of methanol-laced alcoholic drinks,” the U.S. Embassy in the Laos capital of Vientiane said in a Nov. 22 travel advisory.
“Please be alert to the potential risk of methanol poisoning, especially when consuming spirit-based alcoholic drinks.”
Methanol is a single-carbon simple alcohol that is used primarily for automotive and other industrial purposes. But bar owners in some resort destinations have occasionally been caught mixing methanol into drinks to bring down cost.
As the human body processes methanol to form formaldehyde, the solution can rapidly put a person in a coma or kill them.
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Warning: Don’t accept free or very low-price drinks
“In November 2024, several foreigners in Vang Vieng have been victims of suspected methanol-adulterated alcohol poisoning,” reads the advisory from the Canadian government.
It also advises travelers to buy drinks only in sealed bottles and cans and not to accept “free or extremely low-priced drinks.”
The Laotian authorities released a statement saying that they were investigating the deaths and working to “bring the perpetrators to justice.”
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GoFundMe efforts for poisoned-drink awareness
In the wake of the deaths of Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles,the two 19-year-old Australian friends who were among the six dead, their families started a GoFundMe campaign aiming to raise awareness about methanol poisoning.
As of the morning of Nov. 26, the effort had raised A$265,000 (US$172,000). After the costs of repatriation and funerals, the funds will go toward education and prevention efforts as well as initiatives to “educate travelers, local communities, and businesses about the dangers of methanol poisoning.”
“Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles were two vibrant, adventurous 19-year-old best friends with their whole lives ahead of them,” reads the GoFundMe description.
“[Tragically,] their journey, along with visitors from different countries, was cut short when they fell victim to methanol poisoning — a hidden danger that claimed their lives just one day apart.”
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