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.

Laos police have arrested the owner, manager and six staff members of the Laotian hostel at the centre of a spate of fatal ­methanol poisonings as the ­grieving parents of Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles brought their daughters’ bodies back to ­Australia.

A second Australian teenager, Holly Bowles, has tragically passed away due to suspected methanol poisoning in Laos.

Laos police have detained eight staff and managers of the hostel where Australians Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles were staying when they fell ill. A third Australian is also recovering from suspected poisoning.

A second Melbourne teenager has died following a mass methanol poisoning incident in Laos, bringing the confirmed death toll to six. The owner of a backpacker hostel where two young Australians were staying before they fell violently ill from methanol poisoning has been detained by police for questioning in Laos.

The father of Melbourne 19-year-old Holly Bowles says his daughter remains on life support, as Holly and her friend Bianca Jones fight for their lives after drinking tainted alcohol in Laos while on a backpacking holiday.

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 after consuming alcohol in the town of Vang Vieng,

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.

Bodies of Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles brought home as Laos police arrest eight people over suspected methanol poisoning.