By New York Post (World News) | Created at 2024-11-24 17:55:04 | Updated at 2024-11-24 20:40:19
2 hours ago
Two Danish backpackers who died in a mass poisoning in Laos messaged a friend to say they had been vomiting blood for hours before they went eerily silent, and were later found deceased.
The two women drank from the same batch of alcohol thought to have been spiked with methanol that also left four others dead, including Australian teenagers Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones, while another 11 foreign nationals remain in hospital fighting for life.
Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20, and Freja Vennervald Sorensen, 21, originally from the Denmark town of Roskilde, had been backpacking across south east Asia in what was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime.
They were staying at Nana Backpackers in Vang Vieng, Laos, and had been planning to meet up with a Belgian man they had met earlier in their travels.
The two Danes told their friend they had been puking blood for hours on end and then went quiet, prompting him to spend several days searching for them before learning they had died.
It prompted a warning online, with a friend of the Belgian backpacker sharing his anguish at the situation.
“The past few days I have been busy with a Belgian friend looking for two girls he travelled with,” the man wrote.
“For more than 72 hours, no contact could be made while they had agreed to meet in Vang Vieng.
‘The strange thing was that their last message was that they had both been vomiting blood for 13 hours … They have both since died.”
Two Danish backpackers who died in a mass poisoning in Laos messaged a friend to say they had been vomiting blood for hours before they went eerily silent, and were later found deceased.
The two women drank from the same batch of alcohol thought to have been spiked with methanol that also left four others dead, including Australian teenagers Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones, while another 11 foreign nationals remain in hospital fighting for life.
Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20, and Freja Vennervald Sorensen, 21, originally from the Denmark town of Roskilde, had been backpacking across south east Asia in what was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime.
They were staying at Nana Backpackers in Vang Vieng, Laos, and had been planning to meet up with a Belgian man they had met earlier in their travels.
Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20, is among the dead.
Freja Vennervald Sorensen, 21, has also died.
The two Danes told their friend they had been puking blood for hours on end and then went quiet, prompting him to spend several days searching for them before learning they had died.
It prompted a warning online, with a friend of the Belgian backpacker sharing his anguish at the situation.
‘The past few days I have been busy with a Belgian friend looking for two girls he travelled with,” the man wrote.
“For more than 72 hours, no contact could be made while they had agreed to meet in Vang Vieng.
‘The strange thing was that their last message was that they had both been vomiting blood for 13 hours … They have both since died.”
Local police reports stated that Sorensen and Coyman drank at the hostel bar on November 12 and then visited some other local bars.
They got back to their room around midnight but then stayed there.
Staff found them about 6pm the next day, lying unconscious on their bathroom floor.
They were rushed to hospital but were reportedly declared dead at about 3.30am local time on November 14.
It comes as the deadly batch of alcohol is believed to have killed two Melbourne backpackers, Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones, both aged 19.
It is understood that the Melbourne teens consumed deadly cocktails while visiting the tourist town of Vang Vieng, located around 130km north of the Laotian capital, Vientiane.
They were staying at Nana Backpackers Hostel and consumed drinks at the bar on November 11 before heading out to another venue, staff at the hostel have claimed.
The pair spent the next day sleeping in their room and came out to tell staff they “couldn’t breathe” and needed to go to hospital, the Herald Sun reported.
One hostel worker, who went by the nickname Pikachu, said the girls sought help from reception staff and were gravely unwell.
The women had reportedly come down to the hostel bar for 8pm happy hour and had a few drinks before heading out to a party around 10.30pm
Jones and Bowle died a day apart in Thai hospitals this week after falling ill with suspected methanol poisoning.
The Laotian government has promised to bring perpetrators to justice.
On Saturday, they released a statement saying the nation was “profoundly saddened over the loss of lives of foreign tourists”.
“The government of the Lao PDR has been conducting investigations to find causes of the incident and to bring the perpetrators to justice in accordance with the law,” it said.
The owner of a backpacker hostel, Duong Duc Toan, has been detained by police for questioning in Laos but has not been charged with anything.
Nana Backpackers bartender Toan Van Vaang denied that Jones and Bowles had been poisoned at the hostel’s bar.
He poured a vodka and Coke Zero, the same drink as the women had been drinking, and took a sip himself to prove it was safe, the Herald Sun reported.
Van Vaang said the vodka was purchased from a distributor and staff never watered it down or added to the bottle.
