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

Southeast Asia has the "highest rates of methanol poisoning globally", said Al Jazeera, and this is often blamed on "economic pressures and weak regulations". Laos, despite its increasing popularity with backpackers, is one of the poorest nations in the region.

James Louis Hutson, 57, of the US, and Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20 and Freja Vennervald Sorensen, 21, both Danish, were staying at the Nana hostel in Van Vieng, approximately two hours north of the nation's capital Vientiane, when they became ill.