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.

In the days after backpackers in Laos began falling violently ill due to suspected methanol poisoning, travellers tried desperately to warn each other about the hostel at the centre of the scandal.

Police in Laos have detained eight members of staff at a backpacker hostel following the deaths of six tourists from suspected methanol poisoning last week. According to local media, those detained include workers and management from the Nana Backpacker Hostel in the town of Vang Vieng, where several of the tourists who later died had stayed.

Police in Laos have detained the manager and seven staff of a backpacker hostel in Vang Vieng following the deaths of six tourists from suspected methanol poisoning, state media reported