(23 Nov 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Vang Vieng, Laos – 23 November 2024
1. Various of hot air balloons flying over Nam Song river
2. Various of tourists on rubber tubes on river
3. Various of tourists playing in the Blue Lagoon
4. Wide of French tourists Antoine Mule and Audrey Hervieu walking
5. Close of fish in lagoon
6. SOUNDBITE (French) Antoine Mule and Audrey Hervieu, French tourists:
"(We came here) in particular for the hot air balloon flight that we did this morning at sunrise, but also to discover a bit of the mountainous landscapes and the fields. I don’t know what you think about it? Also the blue lagoons are very beautiful.”
Hervieu: "Yes, the blue lagoons… We’d been told quite a lot about it, and it’s true that we wanted to visit this place.”
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Vang Vieng, Laos – 22 November 2024
++NIGHT SHOTS++
7. Various of tourists
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Frida Svedberg, Swedish tourist:
"Obviously it’s like a famous backpacker place. You go from Thailand Luang Prabang and then from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng and then you keep going. I’ve just heard good things about it and it’s where most people go so.”
9. Wide of tourists walking past a bar
10. Various of bar
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Anton Honkanen, Swedish tourist:
"It’s crazy. I think it destroys the value of backpacking a little bit. Because everyone just enjoys this time. Maybe meeting some new people at the hostels, taking some drinks with all kind of people from all around the world. And now I wouldn’t do it today because of the poisoning.”
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Vang Vieng, Laos – 23 November 2024
12. Various of Nana hostel with gate closed
STORYLINE:
On Saturday, Vang Vieng seemed like the paradise it is.
Life continued as normal despite a series of poisonings which have resulted in the deaths of tourists.
Hot air balloons floated over the picturesque town and tourists floated in rubber tubes on the river.
But the death of at least six tourists has sent shockwaves through the town that is popular with backpackers.
"It’s crazy. I think it destroys the value of backpacking a little bit. Because everyone just enjoys this time," said one Swedish traveller.
The Laotian government on Saturday officially acknowledged the mass poisoning and pledged it would bring perpetrators to justice.
Two Australian teenagers and a British woman died from suspected methanol poisoning after drinking tainted alcohol in Laos.
An American man and two Danes also died, though their exact causes of death have not been released. A New Zealander also has been sickened.
In a short statement released to the media, the Lao government said it was “profoundly saddened over the loss of lives of foreign tourists” in the town Vang Vieng and offered its condolences to the families of the victims.
“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,” it said.
Laos is a one-party communist state with no organized opposition and the government keeps a tight lid on information.
In this case, officials have released almost no details. The police have said they detained a number of people but refused to provide further information.
Details have been murky over the number of tourists affected and the possible source of the methanol-laced drinks.
Methanol is sometimes added to mixed drinks at disreputable bars as a cheaper alternative to ethanol, but can cause severe poisoning or death.
AP Video by Hau Dinh
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