Amongst the tourists who tragically lost their lives were American traveller James Louis Hutson, 57, 28-year-old British woman Simone White and two Danish travellers Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20, and Freja Vennervald Sorensen, 21.

Laotian police have detained the manager and owner of a hostel after five backpackers, including British lawyer Simone White, died of suspected methanol poisoning in the riverside party town of Van Vieng.

Eight staff members of a backpacker hostel in Laos have been detained by local authorities as they investigate the deaths of six foreign tourists from suspected methanol poisoning, according to state-affiliated media in the Southeast Asian country.

In a series of now deleted Google Reviews obtained by the ABC, backpackers warned about the unfolding disaster at the Nana Backpacker Hostel in Vang Vieng - where at least five of the six people to have died from suspected methanol poisoning were staying.

Staff from a backpacker hostel have been detained after six tourists died from suspected methanol poisoning after a night out. View on euronews

Police in Laos have detained the manager and seven staff of a backpacker hostel in Vang Vieng following the deaths of six tourists from suspected methanol poisoning, state media reported Tuesday.Police have detained the 34-year-old manager of the Nana Backpacker Hostel and seven other employees for interrogation,

Police have arrested the owner of a factory in Laos thought to be the source of the methanol poisoning that killed six tourists – including a British woman. The plant, outside the capital Vientiane is believed to have made the Tiger Vodka and Tiger Whiskey that they drank in the popular backpacker town of Vang Vieng.