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.

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 Frela Vennervald Sorensen, 21.

Cuddling on the couch with her dog, Ducky, no one would notice that anything is different about Ashley King. Even when she walks across the living room, she doesn’t miss a step. But the 32-year-old has gotten used to functioning with only two per cent vision.

As some of their number succumbed to methanol poisoning, other guests at the Laotian hostel at the centre of the probe tried to warn others to stay away -

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