Laos hostel staff detained after backpackers' deaths

Bangkok: Police in Laos have detained the manager and seven staff of a backpacker hostel in Vang Vieng following the deaths of six tourists from suspe...

Bangkok: 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.

Two Danish citizens, an American, a Briton and two Australians died following what media said was a night out in the town on November 12.

Police have detained the 34-year-old manager of the Nana Backpacker Hostel and seven other employees for interrogation, the Laos Post said on Tuesday.

Local media reported that all those detained were Vietnamese nationals.

Vang Vieng has been a fixture on the Southeast Asia backpacker trail since Laos' secretive communist rulers opened the country to tourism decades ago.