Parents of Australian teens killed by tainted liquor in Laos are angry at expected charges

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BANGKOK (AP) — Australia’s government and the families of two Australian teenagers who died of methanol poisoning in Laos have lambasted as inadequate the charges they said were due to be laid by Lao authorities on Friday against those allegedly responsible.

Australian tourists Bianca Jones and Holly Morton-Bowles, both 19, were among six foreigners killed by tainted alcohol at a tourist hostel in Vang Vieng in November 2024. The others killed were an American man, a British woman and two Danish women.

Jones’ parents told reporters in Melbourne that authorities in Laos would later Friday announce charges against the alleged suppliers of the methanol-laced drinks.

Mark Jones, Bianca’s father, said that according to information received by the families, the penalties the accused are expected to face if convicted are up to a year in jail and a fine of about 1,600 Australian dollars ($1,117). Australian authorities have been keeping the affected families apprised of the case since the incident.

He described such a resolution as “unacceptable.”

“It’s like their lives didn’t even matter," said Bianca’s mother, Michelle. "We’re just really appalled by it all. You know, they were just going over to have a bit of fun and just doing the rite of passage that every, you know, child or teenager does. So for that outcome, it was just devastating.”

An announcement was supposed to be made at the Ministry of Public Security in the Lao capital, Vientiane, and cars from the embassies of two of the concerned countries, Australia and Britain, were seen leaving that location on Friday afternoon but no information was immediately available. A request from The Associated Press for entry to cover the proceedings was not approved.

Methanol poisoning is a problem all over the world, not only for tourists but more so for local residents. In the latter case, it is found especially in countries where alcoholic drinks are hard to afford or illicit. Statistics of suspected cases compiled by the medical assistance group Doctors Without Borders show that Indonesia, India and Russia are countries with the most reported incidents.

Methanol is sometimes added to mixed drinks at disreputable bars as a cheaper alternative to ethanol, but can cause severe poisoning or death. It is also a byproduct of poorly distilled home-brew liquor, and could have found its way into bar drinks inadvertently.

The two Australian women had been staying at the Nana Backpacker Hostel, where they reportedly consumed “free shots” of Laotian vodka before heading out to other venues.

When they failed to check out as planned, they were found sick in their room and eventually evacuated to hospitals in neighboring Thailand, where they later died.

Speaking at a news conference along with the Jones family, Shaun Bowles, the father of Holly Morton-Bowles, described Friday's anticipated legal development as “mind-boggling because (Laos) is a popular tourist destination for a lot of travelers, a lot of Australian, young Australian travelers and young people from around the world.”

He said he expected potential visitors to Laos to reconsider going “because they’ve demonstrated, the way that they act, and as I say, the value that they put on tourists’ lives over there and the way they’ve tried to cover this up.”

Landlocked Laos is one of Southeast Asia’s poorest nations and a popular tourist destination. Vang Vieng is particularly popular among backpackers seeking partying and adventure sports.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said she was “deeply frustrated and bitterly disappointed″ that authorities weren’t pursuing “the most serious charges” in relations to the women’s deaths, she said in a statement Friday. Wong’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for details of the expected counts and her statement didn’t specify how many people were due to be charged.

Wong and Australia’s Prime Minister had dispatched an envoy to Laos on Friday “to convey the Australian Government’s objections and reinforce our expectations for an investigation that delivers justice for Holly, Bianca and the other victims of the methanol poisoning,” the minister said. Australian officials had also summoned Laos’ ambassador to Canberra, she added.

Laos is an authoritarian one-party communist state that tightly controls information. A text message from The Associated Press to the Lao Foreign Ministry asking for an official comment received the reply that information would be made available at a news conference that would be open only to local media and the foreign embassies concerned.

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Graham-McLay reported from Auckland, New Zealand.