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

The owner of a backpackers hostel where two young Australians were staying before they fell violently ill from methanol poisoning has been detained by police for questioning in Laos.

Six people have died, including Simone White from Kent, after falling ill in the town of Vang Vieng, a town popular with backpackers.

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.