A travel blogger has expressed her shock after six backpackers were revealed to have been poisoned at a Laos hostel she had promoted on social media.
Steph Dawson, who runs an Instagram travel account, promoted the hostel on a reel in December last year and has been left in a state of ‘complete shock’.
The six travelers, including Simone White, a 28-year-old lawyer from Kent, were taken to a local hospital in the well-known backpacking town of Van Vieng last week after falling ill.
White’s death was confirmed by the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office on Thursday.
It is now believed that White and the other travelers suffered from suspected methanol poisoning, with police in Laos having now detained the manager and owner of the hostel.
The poisoned backpackers were believed to have been served drinks tainted with the dangerous industrial chemical methanol at the hostel.
Methanol has long been used by disreputable bars abroad as a cheaper alternative to ethanol.
Dawson told GB News: ‘I am literally completed shocked. I did a whole reel on Instagram promoting this hostel as a place to stay’.
Travel blogger Steph Dawson expressed her ‘complete shock’ over the poisoning of six travelers at a hostel she had previously promoted in Laos
Travel blogger Steph had made the reel promoting the Nana Backpacker Hostel in December of last year
The Nana Backpacker Hostel had been popular with tourists due to its free offerings of alcohol
Steph went on to say that the hostel had been the most popular in the area as it served cheap alcohol to travelers every night.
‘It was where every backpacker goes. It’s cheap, sociable and it offers free alcohol between 7-9pm. They do free vodka and free rum every night.
‘Because it’s so cheap, you can go down the road and buy a bottle of vodka for £1.60, but it tastes cheap. Everyone out there does it so everyone thinks it’s fine, I think that’s why it’s so shocking’.
The detained manager of the Nana Backpacker Hostel, Duong Duc Toan, has said that staff were informed that a group of women were feeling unwell after they missed their check-out time.
The group of six women had reportedly joined a group of over 100 other guests for the hostel’s signature free shots just two night’s prior.
Simone White, 28, from Orpington in Kent, died after drinking free shots at a Laos hostel allegedly laced with methanol
The hostel remains open but is not currently accepting new guests (Pictured: Nana’s Backpackers bar)
However, Mr Toan said that no other guests reported any issues and claimed that the poisoning victims went on a night out of drinking in nearby bars after the free shots function at the hostel had ended.
Laos officials are yet to reveal much information regarding the incident, other than confirming the deaths of the travelers.
Going on to share details on how backpackers can stay safe when abroad, travel blogger Steph said that travelers should ‘trust their instincts’.
‘We have to wait for the investigation to be over to pass judgement on the hostel. If you’re not into partying or don’t want to do shots, don’t stay at these hostels doing free shots’, she added.