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.

Eight employees of a backpacker hostel in Laos have been detained for questioning after six foreign tourists died from suspected methanol poisoning.

The deaths of six foreign tourists linked to a suspected mass methanol poisoning has thrown a spotlight on a small town in Southeast Asia that has worked hard in recent years to shed its reputation for excess.

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

Police in Laos have detained eight members of staff at a backpacker hostel following the deaths of six tourists from suspected methanol poisoning last week. According to local media, those detained include workers and management from the Nana Backpacker Hostel in the town of Vang Vieng, where several of the tourists who later died had stayed.

Authorities have named the American tourist who was one of five people to die of suspected methanol poisoning at a hostel in Laos. The victim is 57-year-old James Louis Hutson, the BBC reported, citing Laotian authorities.

Simone White, 28, from Orpington, Kent, was one of a number of people taken to hospital after the incident in the popular backpacking town of Vang Vieng last week

Six foreign tourists including Simone White, a 28-year-old British lawyer, have died in the last two weeks from suspected methanol poisoning after drinking contaminated alcohol in the town.

A second Australian teenager who fell critically ill after drinking tainted alcohol in Laos has died, according to a family statement sent to Australian media.

Police in Laos have detained the manager and seven workers of a backpacker hostel in Vang Vieng following the deaths of six tourists from suspected methanol poisoning, state media reported on Tuesday.