Laos has filed charges against a distillery owner over the deaths of foreign tourists in 2024, and the move has already drawn anger from the parents of two Australian teenagers who died after drinking tainted alcohol. The case, announced at the Ministry of Public Security in Vientiane, shows a state apparatus moving slowly and narrowly while families keep asking why the dead are being treated like an afterthought.
Who Pays for the Damage
Two Danish women, Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20, and Freja Vennervald Sorensen, 21, were among six foreigners killed by drinking tainted alcohol at a tourist hostel in Vang Vieng in November 2024. The other victims were Australian teenagers Bianca Jones and Holly Morton-Bowles, both 19; British lawyer Simone White, 28; and, according to Lao media, U.S. citizen James Louis Hutson, 57. The people at the bottom of the chain paid with their lives. The people at the top now argue over charges.
Denmark’s foreign ministry said Friday the charges could bring a prison sentence of between three months and four years and a fine if the accused is found guilty. The ministry said the case will formally remain open for 15 years and that more serious charges, including negligent homicide, can still be brought if there is sufficient proof. That’s the legal machinery at work: narrow charges first, heavier ones maybe later, if the burden of proof can be met.
The Danish foreign ministry statement, issued in Copenhagen and citing Lao authorities, said the charges were selling food that is harmful to health and operating an illegal business. It did not say whether the charges were related to all the deaths. The wording matters. So does the silence.
Families Left Outside the Door
Australia’s government and the families of the Australian teenagers who died of methanol poisoning in Laos had earlier on Friday lambasted as inadequate the charges they expected from authorities in Vientiane. The families held a news conference to announce that the charges were expected to be officially revealed and to express anger that they were likely to be for minor offenses. They had to speak publicly just to force the issue into the open.
Bianca Jones’ mother, Michelle, said, “It’s like their lives didn’t even matter. 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.” Her words land hard because they come from the people who lost the most and got the least.
Shaun Bowles, the father of Holly Morton-Bowles, said at the morning news conference with the Jones family that Friday’s anticipated legal development was “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.”
What the Officials Call Justice
Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said he was deeply disappointed that the indictment did not reflect the seriousness and extent of the tragedy affecting so many families. He said it can be complicated to meet the precise burden of proof required to bring the most serious charges in such a case, but added that it is difficult to come to terms with such a lenient indictment. Rasmussen said his office will work with relatives and other affected countries to discuss their next moves in the case.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a statement Friday morning that she was “deeply frustrated and bitterly disappointed” that authorities weren’t pursuing “the most serious charges” in relations to the women’s deaths. Wong and Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese 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,” she said. Australian officials had also summoned Laos’ ambassador to Canberra, she added.
The announcement of charges was made at the Ministry of Public Security in Vientiane. A request from The Associated Press for entry to cover the proceedings was not approved, but cars from the embassies of at least two of the concerned countries, Australia and Britain, were seen leaving that location on Friday afternoon. The state controls the room, the cameras, and the narrative. Everyone else waits outside.
Vennervald Sørensen’s parents earlier said they have been left in the dark since the tragedy, Danish public broadcaster DR reported. No autopsy was performed on their daughter, they said, and the death certificate said she died of the natural cause of cardiac arrest. They said the young women had taken precautions throughout their travels and that they never knew methanol poisoning could happen. They hoped to raise awareness of it.
The victims had been staying at the Nana Backpacker Hostel, where some reportedly consumed “free shots” of Laotian vodka before heading out to other venues. When the Australian teens 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.
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.
Laos is an authoritarian one-party communist state that tightly controls information. Vang Vieng is particularly popular among backpackers seeking partying and adventure sports. The tourists came looking for a cheap escape. The system gave them a lesson in who gets protected, and who doesn’t.