A U.S. citizen and at least four other tourists from Australia, Denmark and Britain died in Laos this month after having drinks possibly spiked with methanol.
Methanol is a form of alcohol more toxic than the normal ethanol in typical alcoholic beverages.
The tourists consumed the drinks in Vang Vieng, Laos, last week, among at least 14 people getting sick.
Australian victims Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles, both 19, started drinking at the Nana Backpacker Hostel in Vang Vieng the evening of Nov. 11, getting free shots of vodka along with about 100 others, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
Two days later, the two teens were taken to a hospital in neighboring Thailand in critical condition.
The manager of the hostel, Duong Duc Toan, told the Herald that the vodka he served didn’t cause the illnesses. Ms. Jones died in the Thai hospital, while Ms. Bowles remains there in critical condition, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Thai authorities said Ms. Jones died from brain swelling caused by methanol, reported The Associated Press.
A British woman, 28-year-old Simone White, died in Laos from the poisoning.
“We are supporting the family of a British woman who has died in Laos, and we are in contact with the local authorities,” the U.K. Foreign Office told the BBC.
Neither the State Department nor Danish authorities have publicly identified the victims from their countries or implicated methanol, only confirming that the tourists — one American and two Danes — died in Laos.
“We offer our sincerest condolences to the family on their loss,” the State Department told AP.
Officials in New Zealand and the Netherlands reported that at least one of their citizens were victims of the poisoning, according to the BBC.