{"id":805128,"date":"2026-07-17T01:36:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T01:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/805128\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T01:36:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T01:36:10","slug":"family-devastated-by-unacceptable-charges-over-methanol-deaths-of-australian-teenagers-in-laos-australia-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/805128\/","title":{"rendered":"Family devastated by \u2018unacceptable\u2019 charges over methanol deaths of Australian teenagers in Laos | Australia news"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Australian government says it wants \u201creal charges with teeth\u201d over the fatal methanol poisoning of two teenage travellers in Laos<\/a>, as authorities prepare to lay lesser charges that have been called \u201cbitterly\u201d disappointing.<\/p>\n

Melbourne travellers Bianca Jones and Holly Morton-Bowles, both 19, were backpacking through the south-east Asian nation in late 2024 when they were fatally poisoned<\/a> with methanol while drinking at Nana backpackers hostel in Vang Vieng.<\/p>\n

A British woman, an American man and two Danish women also died in the incident.<\/p>\n

Officials in Laos were due to conclude their investigation on Friday, with two offences expected to be laid that carry up to one year in jail and a maximum fine of A$1,600.<\/p>\n

Holly\u2019s father, Shaun Bowles, told 2GB radio he was devastated at the prospect.<\/p>\n

He had been briefed on the likely charges and they were not the results his family were looking for.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is devastating news to us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n

His understanding was the charges were going to be put against those responsible for making the allegedly tainted vodka.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still not convinced that they\u2019re the right people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had so many conflicting stories come out, it\u2019s very hard to pin down who exactly is at fault. But clearly that\u2019s not been the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bianca\u2019s father, Mark Jones, also decried the charges that are expected to be laid.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unacceptable that the passing of our daughter, her best friend, Holly, and three other beautiful women\u2019s lives come down to the potential maximum outcome of one year in jail and a $1,600 [fine],\u201d he told ABC TV.<\/p>\n

Bianca\u2019s mother, Michelle Jones, said: \u201cIt\u2019s like their lives didn\u2019t even matter. We\u2019re just really appalled by it all.\u201d<\/p>\n

She warned prospective travellers \u201cdon\u2019t go to Laos\u201d, and urged those who do to consume only bottled or canned drinks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said the Australian government was \u201cdeeply frustrated and bitterly disappointed\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a statement on Friday morning, Wong said the charges \u201cshould reflect the gravity of the tragedy\u201d. She confirmed that she and the prime minister were expressing these expectations to their Lao counterparts.<\/p>\n

Wong announced that special envoy Pablo Kang<\/a>, appointed to \u201cexplore all avenues to achieve progress in the investigation,\u201d was travelling to Laos on Friday.<\/p>\n

Kang will \u201cconvey the Australian Government\u2019s objections and reinforce our expectations for an investigation that delivers justice for Holly, Bianca, and the other victims of the methanol poisoning\u201d.<\/p>\n

Wong said she will personally press the issue next week at the Asean-related foreign ministers\u2019 meetings in Manila.<\/p>\n

In Canberra, the acting secretary of Dfat called in the Lao ambassador.<\/p>\n

The federal health minister, Mark Butler, said the government would be watching closely as Lao authorities prepared to hold a press conference on the matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of us can imagine the grief and the sense of loss that those families are going through now,\u201d he said. \u201cOur hearts are breaking for them all over again.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Australian government has offered to provide its Lao counterpart with resources to conduct a full investigation, which had been rejected, Butler said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere could not be any doubt about what we expect. We continue to urge them to press for real accountability and introduce some real charges with teeth.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Australian government says it wants \u201creal charges with teeth\u201d over the fatal methanol poisoning of two teenage…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":805129,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-805128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=805128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/805129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=805128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=805128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=805128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}