The problem with methanol poisoning is that it looks very much like alcohol poisoning. And delays in treatment can be fatal.

Officials arrested eight hostel workers in Laos on Monday for allegedly poisoning travelers with methanol, according to reports from the Australian Broadcasting Corp.  Tourists reported illnesses

A third Australian has been hospitalised in the suspected mass methanol poisoning in Laos, Thailand. Eight people have been arrested following six related deaths.

An Australian teenager has become the sixth foreign tourist to die in a suspected mass methanol poisoning in Laos, as a growing list of countries warned of the potentially fatal consequences of drinking tainted alcohol in the Southeast Asian country.

Simone White was enjoying a holiday with friends in Laos last week when she accepted a free shot from a bar. The 28-year-old British lawyer has now been named as the fifth person to die in a suspected mass methanol poisoning in the backpacking town of Vang Vieng.

Laos police have detained eight men over a suspected methanol poisoning that killed six backpackers, including two Australians. Laos police told the ABC the detained men were staff and management of the Nana Backpackers hostel, where Australian teenagers Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles were staying when they fell ill.

The suspected mass poisoning of six tourists in Laos last week has sent shockwaves through the backpacker scene, and highlighted Southeast Asia's problem with tainted alcohol. A Briton, two Australians,

Bodies of Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles brought home as Laos police arrest eight people over suspected methanol poisoning.