Two young Melbourne women remain on life support in hospitals in Thailand after falling ill in a suspected mass methanol poisoning in Laos. The Danish ministry of foreign affairs has confirmed two young women in their early twenties died last week as part of the incident.
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00:00Well, this must just be an intensely anxious wait for the families of these two young women,
00:09one who's in hospital here in Bangkok, the other about eight hours north up in Udon Thani,
00:14both with their families by their bedsides, just waiting and hoping that they'll wake
00:19up.
00:20We understand that both women are still in a critical condition after drinking what's
00:24believed to be alcohol laced with methanol, which has left two other people dead and about
00:2910 gravely ill.
00:31Of course, methanol is a clear liquid chemical that's often used, particularly in Southeast
00:37Asian countries, deliberately but illegally as a cheaper substitute for ethanol.
00:42But even a small amount can be deadly, just as little as a shot can kill people.
00:47And that's what we've seen this week.
00:49Now, Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones were on a gap year adventure through Asia and looking
00:55at their social media accounts.
00:57It looks like they were having the trip of a lifetime.
01:00It was the kind of dream trip that so many young Australians take after they graduate
01:05school.
01:06But, of course, that dream has obviously turned into a nightmare last week in Vang Vien.
01:12I spoke with the hostel owner at the Backpackers where they were staying, and he has denied
01:16speculation on social media that it was the drinks served at his bar that were responsible.
01:20He says the girls were out drinking at a number of other bars around town, and his staff took
01:26them to the hospital after they failed to check out last Wednesday morning.
01:31Of course, we know that their conditions deteriorated significantly.
01:35They were then transferred to a bigger hospital in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, and then,
01:39of course, on to Thailand, where they remain on life support, and now we know that their
01:45families have also travelled to Thailand to support the girls and, of course, each other
01:51through what can only be described as a nightmare scenario.
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