The parents of two Australian teenagers who died after drinking suspected tainted alcohol in Laos have urged travellers to strike the country from their plans, escalating a months-long campaign for accountability they say has been met with silence and obstruction from authorities. In interviews published in Australia ahead of the first anniversary of the deaths of 19-year-olds Holly Morton-Bowles and Bianca Jones, their families accused the Lao government of failing to pursue a credible inquiry and called on Australians to avoid Laos until officials demonstrate meaningful progress. “We recognise how corrupt and unhelpful the Laos Government [is], there is no evidence whatsoever to suggest there is any type of investigation going on,” Holly’s parents, Shaun Bowles and Samantha Morton, said, adding that their “hope is that Australians remove this country from their bucket list, your life is worth nothing over there.”
Morton-Bowles and Jones, best friends from Melbourne, were backpacking in Vang Vieng in November last year, a riverside town long known for its party scene, when they fell critically ill after a night out that included free shots at the Nana Backpacker Hostel and drinks at another bar, according to multiple contemporaneous accounts. Both were transferred to hospitals in neighbouring Thailand, where they later died. Four other foreign tourists—a British woman, two Danish women and an American man—also died during the same cluster of suspected methanol poisonings, bringing the toll to six, and at least a dozen more people were reported hospitalised.
Methanol, a colourless industrial alcohol sometimes illicitly used to fortify or adulterate spirits, can cause blindness, organ failure and death in small quantities. Thai police later confirmed methanol poisoning as the cause of one of the deaths, while Australian, British and other foreign ministries updated travel advisories warning visitors to exercise extreme caution with locally produced spirits and mixed drinks. The case intensified long-standing concerns about unregulated alcohol in parts of South-East Asia, where enforcement is uneven and producers can operate informally.
In the immediate aftermath, Lao officials told foreign counterparts they were investigating. A government statement issued last November expressed “profound sadness” over the deaths and pledged to “bring the perpetrators to justice,” language the families initially took as a sign that progress might follow. But nearly a year on, the parents say they have received no substantive updates, no timeline, and no explanation for why no one has been held to account. “We’ve heard nothing,” Bianca’s father, Mark Jones, said in a broadcast interview, describing the lack of communication as intolerable as the first anniversary approached.