Laos methanol poisoning victims 'vomited blood for 13 hours' before being found dead in hotel

WARNING, DISTRESSING CONTENT: Two Danish travellers who died after drinking a batch of alcohol suspected to have been poisoned with methanol had text friends saying they were vomiting blood for hours

Two backpackers who died after mass poisoning in south-east Asia had told friends they were vomiting blood for hours before they were later found deceased.

Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20, and Freja Vennervald Sorensen, 21, from Denmark, had been backpacking across Laos when they were found dead in a hotel. Now, it's been revealed they were messaged friends about being sick before going silent and not replying. Both women had drank from the same batch of alcohol which is thought to have been spiked with methanol.

Four other people were left dead from the poisoning, including Australian teenagers Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones and British lawyer Simone White. Another 11 travellers are believed to be in hospital fighting for their lives. The Danish girls were staying at Nana Backpackers in Vang Vieng and were planning to meet up with a Beligan man they had met with earlier in their travels.

They had told their friend how they had been puking blood for hours on an end and when they stopped responding, he spent several days searching for them before finding out they had died. It prompted a warning online, with a friend of the Belgian backpacker sharing his anguish at the situation.

They wrote: "‘The past few days I have been busy with a Belgian friend looking for two girls he travelled with. For more than 72 hours, no contact could be made while they had agreed to meet in Vang Vieng. The strange thing was that their last message was that they had both been vomiting blood for 13 hours … They have both since died.”

Local police reports revealed the two Danes had been drinking at the hostel bar on November 12 before moving on to some other bars in the area. They are believed to have returned to their room at around midnight. Sadly, they were found by staff unconscious on their bathroom floor at around 6pm the following day.

They were rushed to hospital but were reportedly declared dead at about 3.30am local time on November 14. It comes as the deadly batch of alcohol is believed to have killed multiple people and seriously injured and several more. It is understood the two Melbourne teens who died had consumed deadly cocktails. They were also staying at the same hostel as the Danish duo.

The Herald Sun reported that the pair had spent the following day sleeping in their room and only same out to tell staff they "couldn't breathe" and needed to be taken to hospital, news.com reports. One hostel worker said the girls sought help from reception staff and were gravely unwell. Both were taken to hospital but died a day apart in hospital.

The Laotian government has promised to bring perpetrators to justice. On Saturday, they released a statement saying the nation was “profoundly saddened over the loss of lives of foreign tourists”.

It continued: “The government of the Lao PDR has been conducting investigations to find causes of the incident and to bring the perpetrators to justice in accordance with the law."

Duong Duc Toan, who owns the hostel, has been arrested but hasn't been charged. Nana Backpackers bartender Toan Van Vaang denied that the Australian girls had been poisoned at the venue's bar. He poured a vodka and Coke Zero, the same drink as the women had been drinking, and took a sip himself to prove it was safe, the Herald Sun reported. Mr Van Vaang said the vodka was purchased from a distributor and staff never watered it down or added to the bottle.