Speaker 1: Already and this is the daily This is the daily ya,
Speaker 1: this is the dailyahs. Oh, now it makes sense.
Speaker 2: Good morning and welcome to the Daily Os. It's Tuesday,
Speaker 2: the twenty sixth of November. I'm Emma, I'm Billy. Two
Speaker 2: nineteen year olds from Melbourne, Holly Bowls and Bianka Jones
Speaker 2: are among six people who have died from a suspected
Speaker 2: methanol poisoning incident in Lao. The Australians were visiting a
Speaker 2: tourist town in the Southeast Asian country when they fell ill.
Speaker 2: They were rushed to separate hospitals in Thailand, where they
Speaker 2: died late last week. Speaking to media from Thailand after
Speaker 2: the death of his daughter, Bianka's father, Mark Jones said
Speaker 2: his teenager was enjoying the trip of a lifetime with
Speaker 2: one of her best mates.
Speaker 3: This was meant to be a trip full of lifelong memories.
Speaker 3: Will forever miss our beautiful girl and hope her loss
Speaker 3: of life is not.
Speaker 1: The suspected poisoning has claimed to the lives of tourists
Speaker 1: from Denmark, the US and the UK In what's now
Speaker 1: become a multinational investigation. Authorities in Lao have conducted raids
Speaker 1: and detained people for questioning, but no one has been
Speaker 1: charged yet. First, Emma, I think we should start with
Speaker 1: methanol for those of our listeners, and I include myself
Speaker 1: in this because I'm not super familiar with methanol. What
Speaker 1: is methanol poisoning?
Speaker 2: Okay, So, methanol is a colorless liquid chemical. It's typically
Speaker 2: found in things like petrol cleaning products, and it has
Speaker 2: a sweet scent. So to look at methanol, to smell methanol,
Speaker 2: you wouldn't know that it wasn't alcohol that was safe
Speaker 2: to drink, So unlike ethanol, ethanol is the chemical present
Speaker 2: in drinking alcohol. But methanol is toxic to humans. It's
Speaker 2: highly dangerous to consume and even a small amount of
Speaker 2: it can cause vomiting, an abdominal pain, and of course
Speaker 2: we know from this week's reports it can be lethal.
Speaker 1: So how would a person know if they have consumed it.
Speaker 2: It can be confusing at first for someone who has
Speaker 2: methanol poisoning because they might become sick or seem intoxicated,
Speaker 2: and they might confuse that with the effects of drinking
Speaker 2: alcohol of ethanol poisoning, so they may not even really
Speaker 2: know they have consumed methanol.
Speaker 1: So the really serious symptoms aren't immediately present.
Speaker 2: Exactly, or they seem similar to the serious symptoms of
Speaker 2: ethanol poisoning, right, But the main toxin in methanol can
Speaker 2: actually cause brain damage. It can impact the way that
Speaker 2: the human body cells produce energy. Blindness is another common
Speaker 2: side effect of methanol poisoning, and this damage can occur
Speaker 2: quite rapidly, which is kind of back to the heart
Speaker 2: of the issue of identifying it in the first place.
Speaker 2: If diagnosed early, methanol poisoning can be treated, so that's
Speaker 2: within the kind of ten to thirty hours of ingestion
Speaker 2: after that fact, So if you can catch it within
Speaker 2: the ten to thirty hours, a person can be treated.
Speaker 2: They might have life saving treatment in hospital. But often
Speaker 2: by the time it becomes clear that a person has
Speaker 2: consumed methanol, they might have already slipped into a coma.
Speaker 1: That's so interesting. I had no idea about any of
Speaker 1: that to do with methanol. I guess my number one
Speaker 1: question now is how does methanol then end up in
Speaker 1: someone's drink.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So, in terms of the case we're going to
Speaker 2: explore today, this story that's been dominating headlines there is
Speaker 2: a lot we don't know. It hasn't been confirmed that
Speaker 2: this incident is a methanol poisoning event, but it is
Speaker 2: suspected to be the case. In terms of what we
Speaker 2: know about methanol more broadly, is that it is used
Speaker 2: as a cheap and easy to access alternative to drinking
Speaker 2: alcohol in some parts of the world. So health experts
Speaker 2: suggest that sometimes it's illicitly mixed into more expensive alcohol.
Speaker 2: So you know, a bartender might some methanol with some
Speaker 2: vodka or a spirit so that they can make that
Speaker 2: spirit last longer, go further, so bars and clubs can
Speaker 2: ultimately sell more drinks and make more money. That's why
Speaker 2: some of the advice that you might have seen around
Speaker 2: methanol poisoning or about avoiding it is avoiding mixed drinks
Speaker 2: and spirits, buying sealed drinks from bottle shops instead, and
Speaker 2: just being really careful about where that drink has come from.
Speaker 2: So if you saw a drink getting made at a bar,
Speaker 2: that's different to kind of I guess going to a
Speaker 2: bottle shop and buying a sealed can.
Speaker 1: Well, I had no idea about this. I think when
Speaker 1: I heard about this story, I had presumed that someone
Speaker 1: had intentionally poisoned a whole bunch of people. I know
Speaker 1: you've said that we don't know all of the details yet,
Speaker 1: but are you saying that there's a possibility that a
Speaker 1: bar just used methanol as a cheaper alternative to alcohol,
Speaker 1: not knowing that they were perhaps going to be poisoning
Speaker 1: a lot of people.
Speaker 2: Well, I think that there are two elements to your question, Billy,
Speaker 2: that kind of can both be true, in that it
Speaker 2: could be that a bar or the hostel in question
Speaker 2: has used methanol as a means to kind of sell
Speaker 2: drinks more cheaply. But the idea that a hospitality provider
Speaker 2: wouldn't know about the dangers of methanol is maybe a
Speaker 2: little bit of a harder cell. It's highly likely that
Speaker 2: whoever is involved in this, if it is a methanol poisoning,
Speaker 2: it's highly unlikely that they didn't understand that methanol is
Speaker 2: potentially toxic to humans.
Speaker 1: Yes, so they were probably very aware of the consequences
Speaker 1: that using methanol would have had, but it wasn't necessarily
Speaker 1: an intentional killing of people.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and we will touch on this a little bit
Speaker 2: more later. But in terms of the victims. So there
Speaker 2: have been six people who have died so far from
Speaker 2: the same believed poisoning in this town in Lao, and
Speaker 2: five of six of them are women. And what the
Speaker 2: experts say about methanol poisoning is it often has a
Speaker 2: lot to do with the size, the makeup, the metabolism
Speaker 2: of the person who is consuming the methanol. So you know,
Speaker 2: this is obviously speaking broadly, but women will be more
Speaker 2: impacted or impacted differently by certain alcohols and certainly methanol.
Speaker 2: And the argument I suppose is that women are more
Speaker 2: vulnerable to becoming extremely ill from methanol.
Speaker 1: We'll be back with the deep dive in just a moment,
Speaker 1: but first here is a quick message from our sponsor. Okay,
Speaker 1: so let's talk about the incident in Lao. It was
Speaker 1: this time a week ago that we started hearing about
Speaker 1: two Ossie teens who had been hospitalized for suspected methanol poisoning.
Speaker 1: Do we know where they got sick?
Speaker 2: Yes, So we first heard this story from three AW
Speaker 2: that's a nine owned Melbourne based radio station, and they
Speaker 2: reported that these two nineteen year olds from Melbourne, Hollybowls
Speaker 2: and Bianca Jones, had been hospitalized after a night out.
Speaker 2: They were staying in a hostel in the tourist town
Speaker 2: of vang Vien that's two hours outside Lao's capital, Vien Tienne.
Speaker 2: Now everyone involved in the suspected poisoning was also staying
Speaker 2: at this hostel. The Ossie teen's families confirmed to media
Speaker 2: last week the girls were being treated in separate hospitals
Speaker 2: in Thailand for this suspected poisoning default. The Department of
Speaker 2: Foreign Affairs confirmed that it had been providing help to
Speaker 2: these families, and then, very sadly, on Thursday, Prime Minister
Speaker 2: Anthony Albanezi confirmed Bianca Jones had died. He called it
Speaker 2: a terrible and cruel loss. Her family provided a statement
Speaker 2: to The Herald's Son, the Melbourne based newspaper, saying Bianca
Speaker 2: was quote surrounded by love when she passed away in Thailand,
Speaker 2: and they said, we are comforted by the knowledge that
Speaker 2: her incredible spirit touched so many lives during her time
Speaker 2: with us.
Speaker 1: And then on Friday night news broke that a second
Speaker 1: Australian had died. What do we know about her death exactly?
Speaker 2: So Friday evening we heard this terrible news of a
Speaker 2: second death in relation to a suspected methanol poisoning in Lao.
Speaker 2: Like her friend Bianka Jones, Holly bowls tied after this
Speaker 2: suspected poisoning, also in a Thai hospital. A statement from
Speaker 2: the nineteen year old's family said, it is with broken
Speaker 2: hearts and we are so sad to say that our
Speaker 2: beautiful girl Holly is now at peace. Holly was living
Speaker 2: her best life, traveling through Southeast Asia, meeting new friends
Speaker 2: and enjoying incredible experiences.
Speaker 1: I get chills hearing you read out that statement. You
Speaker 1: can't even imagine what the families are going throughout the moment.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's just horrific. And I've been the nineteen year
Speaker 2: old in Southeast Asia. I went to Lao at the
Speaker 2: same age and had an amazing time and met wonderful
Speaker 2: people from all over the world. It's such a rite
Speaker 2: of passage to go on those holidays and to find
Speaker 2: your independence in that way, and just a turn of
Speaker 2: events that no one could have imagined.
Speaker 1: There have also been several other deaths, all tourists, as
Speaker 1: you said before, were staying at the same hostel in Lao.
Speaker 1: Do we know about them?
Speaker 2: Okay, yep. So there are the six tourists in total
Speaker 2: who have died. We've got the two young Ausi's Holly
Speaker 2: in Bianca. There's also a twenty eight year old British woman,
Speaker 2: two Danish women aged nineteen and twenty, and one fifty
Speaker 2: seven year old American man. They have all passed away.
Speaker 2: A New Zealander is also believed to be among several
Speaker 2: others who were hospitalized with suspected methanol poisoning, all staying
Speaker 2: at that hostel. Local media over in New Zealand confirmed
Speaker 2: that that person did return home yesterday, but it's not
Speaker 2: clear how many others are sick, how serious their conditions
Speaker 2: may be. Last week there were media reports on the
Speaker 2: ground of at least ten people who were in hospital. Again,
Speaker 2: we just don't know for sure the scale of how
Speaker 2: serious their conditions may be, so how unwell everyone is,
Speaker 2: and if all of these people were spiked with methanol.
Speaker 2: We do know that they were staying at the Nana
Speaker 2: backpackers hostel before they became sick, and this hostel, Dell
Speaker 2: is now kind of at the center of inquiries.
Speaker 1: I want to turn to the investigation side of things.
Speaker 1: What has the response been like on the ground in Lao.
Speaker 1: Have we heard from the government or the policer.
Speaker 2: We have now, but there has been some criticism surrounding
Speaker 2: this response, so on the ground in vang Vieng and
Speaker 2: more broadly from the national government. We did get a
Speaker 2: statement on Saturday from the Lao government, but that was
Speaker 2: the first that we'd officially heard from the government, and
Speaker 2: police have been accused of failing to be transparent on
Speaker 2: their inquiries, of not acting quickly enough. The Foreign Affairs
Speaker 2: Ministry in Lao did release that statement on Saturday, saying
Speaker 2: it was profoundly saddened by the deaths of foreign tourists
Speaker 2: and that authorities were quote conducting investigations to find causes
Speaker 2: of the incident and to bring the perpetrators to justice
Speaker 2: in accordance with the law. Mark Jones, he's the father
Speaker 2: of that Australian teenager Bianca who sadly passed away. We
Speaker 2: had previously called for more action from authorities before we
Speaker 2: got that statement.
Speaker 3: I would like to take this opportunity to urge the
Speaker 3: allow government to investigate this to the forced extent. We
Speaker 3: can't have the passing outed order not lead the change
Speaker 3: to protect others.
Speaker 2: Have you heard anything from the hostel so the BBC
Speaker 2: reported on Monday the hostel has been closed and a
Speaker 2: nearby bar, which is called JD's, has also been raided. Now,
Speaker 2: for all intents and purposes, the owners the operators of
Speaker 2: these venues have denied any involvement any wrongdoing, have denied
Speaker 2: serving any illegal or homemade alcohol. There are reports that
Speaker 2: this hostel in question, though, gives guests a free shot
Speaker 2: of alcohol when they check in, so I suppose there
Speaker 2: are questions now about where that alcohol comes from, what
Speaker 2: that alcohol actually is. The hostel has, of course, as mentioned,
Speaker 2: denied serving any illegal beverage. The owners of the hostel
Speaker 2: were arrested on Friday and taken into custody for questioning,
Speaker 2: but no charges have been laid, so it's not clear
Speaker 2: if police are just questioning them as part of their
Speaker 2: investigations or if those hostel owners are suspects. The Associated
Speaker 2: Press has reportedly spoken with local police who told them
Speaker 2: that a number of people had been detained. But again
Speaker 2: we are waiting on details and there's still so much
Speaker 2: we just don't know.
Speaker 1: What about the Australian government, what role do they play
Speaker 1: in the investigation here?
Speaker 2: So we know from defat as mentioned earlier, they're providing
Speaker 2: assistance to the two families of the Australian women, and
Speaker 2: that will include assistants to bring the girls back to
Speaker 2: Australia so to recover Holly and Bianca's bodies bring them
Speaker 2: home for a funeral. Here nine has reported that officers
Speaker 2: from the Australian Federal Police are conducting their own inquiries
Speaker 2: on the ground in Thailand and Lao now. On the
Speaker 2: traveler side of things for any Aussies heading to Lao,
Speaker 2: Defat did update it's smart Traveler website last week. The
Speaker 2: travel advice for Australians heading to Lao now includes a
Speaker 2: warning that the dangerous chemical methanol may be present in
Speaker 2: spirit based drinks. So it says Australians have been victims
Speaker 2: of suspected cases of methanol poisoning through consuming alcoholic drinks,
Speaker 2: So just a warning for travelers to be extra aware
Speaker 2: if they are heading to Lao on Friday night. The
Speaker 2: Prime Minister said this should have been a trip filled
Speaker 2: with joy and wonderful memories. He called it beyond sad
Speaker 2: that it is not to be true, and Albaneze said
Speaker 2: the government would continue supporting these families of the young
Speaker 2: Australian women and working with local authorities. They are Melbourne girls,
Speaker 2: so we've heard from the Victorian Premiers into Alan she
Speaker 2: expressed her condolences on x She described the situation as
Speaker 2: devastating and said she was thinking of everyone who loved
Speaker 2: Holly and Bianca.
Speaker 1: I also saw a vigil in Melbourne over the weekend.
Speaker 1: What has the community response to the deaths of these
Speaker 1: two girls men.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we've seen a really huge outpouring of tributes both
Speaker 2: online and in person. That was as vigil on Sunday,
Speaker 2: as you mentioned, Billy, which was attended by around one
Speaker 2: hundred people. Now we've also learned that Holly and Bianca
Speaker 2: were really keen footy players, loved their Aussie Rules and
Speaker 2: they were part of the Bomars Football Club, so that's
Speaker 2: their local club based in the southern suburbs of Melbourne. Players, coaches,
Speaker 2: officials and other community representatives have all sort of banded
Speaker 2: together to pay tribute to these two young women. They
Speaker 2: won the premiership for their club in twenty twenty two,
Speaker 2: so the flag from that win has been flown at
Speaker 2: half mast, the club said in a statement as a
Speaker 2: sign of solidarity and unity and in memory of both
Speaker 2: Holly and Bianca, our women's team, have started tying blue
Speaker 2: and yellow ribbons the club colors in and around their
Speaker 2: homes and throughout the community. The girls jerseys are being
Speaker 2: retired by the club, and they've been remembered as skillful players.
Speaker 2: But there is a little bit of insight into what
Speaker 2: they were like as people in these state from the
Speaker 2: club that I just wanted to share with you. So,
Speaker 2: the club has described Holly as quiet and unassuming. Quote
Speaker 2: she didn't crave attention, yet her kindness, grace, and beautiful
Speaker 2: soul made her someone everyone admired and respected. They said
Speaker 2: that Bianca's infectious charm and tenacity made her a fondly
Speaker 2: regarded teammate and friend. Her smile, exuberance, and happy nature
Speaker 2: made her a delight to be around. Now, Billy, this
Speaker 2: story is obviously continuing to evolve by the day, and
Speaker 2: as we learn more about the circumstances surrounding these deaths,
Speaker 2: we will continue to keep you updated over on the
Speaker 2: daily Ods.
Speaker 1: They sound like two amazing girls who the community were
Speaker 1: very lucky to have such a devastating story. And like
Speaker 1: you said, Emma, so many of us have been those
Speaker 1: nineteen year old girls just traveling the world and you
Speaker 1: never expect anything like this to happen exactly. Thank you
Speaker 1: so much for explaining today. Thank you so much, Billy,
Speaker 1: and thank you so much for listening to this episode
Speaker 1: of The Daily os. A bit of a heavy one today,
Speaker 1: but we hope that we were able to break that
Speaker 1: down for you and answer some of the questions that
Speaker 1: you might have had when you have been seeing that
Speaker 1: story around. Thank you so much, and we'll be back
Speaker 1: again tomorrow. My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a
Speaker 1: proud Arunda Bungelung Kalkuton woman from Gadighl Country. The Daily
Speaker 1: oz acknowledges that this podcast is recorded on the lands
Speaker 1: of the Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal
Speaker 1: and Torres Strait Island and nations.
Speaker 3: We pay our respects to the first peoples of these countries,
Speaker 3: both past and present.