Laos hostel owners held over deadly tainted alcohol poisonings

Vang Vieng is a popular tourist destination (AP)

Laotian police have detained the manager and owner of a hostel after two Australian tourists were poisoned by tainted alcohol, one fatally, in a case that appears to have claimed the lives of at least five people including British tourist Simone White.

An officer at Vang Vieng’s Tourism Police office said a “number of people” had been detained in the case, but no charges have been filed yet.