Families at bedsides of Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones in Thailand after apparent Laos methanol poisoning

The father of one of the two Melbourne 19-year-olds in hospital in Bangkok says the women are still very sick after suspected methanol poisoning.

Transcript

00:00Well, sadly, there's been no improvement in the condition of either of these young women.

00:07Holly Bowles, who's in hospital here in Bangkok, or Bianca Jones, who's about eight hours north

00:11in Udon Thani province.

00:14Both girls have their families by their bedsides.

00:16They're waiting and hoping for the girls to wake up, but there are grave fears they're

00:20only growing by the hour.

00:23Sean Bowles, Holly's father, spoke to the media earlier about what can only be described

00:27as a nightmare scenario for any parent.

00:30Right now our daughter remains in intensive care unit, in critical condition, she's on

00:36life support.

00:37We'd just like to thank everyone from back home for all the support and love that we're

00:44receiving.

00:45We also now have confirmation from the Danish foreign ministry that two young women from

00:48that country have lost their lives as part of this suspected methanol poisoning cluster.

00:54They were staying in Vang Vieng at the same hostel where these two young Australians were

00:59as well.

01:00The Australian government website, Smart Traveller, has now issued fresh warnings to tourists

01:05about consuming alcohol in that country, and it's a warning that tourists appear to be

01:10taking seriously.

01:11I feel like maybe now it's a wake up call for many people, since this has happened.

01:18So I hope people will take more precautions, because it's really sad.

01:22Now because stuff really happened, that's when you're more careful, you think about

01:27it more.

01:28It's not that we don't drink anymore, but you just have to really be careful.

01:34This will no doubt be an anxious and horrible time for these two families, but also a concerning

01:39time for so many families as school-lease approaches right around the corner, and so

01:44many young Australians will be travelling to South East Asia.

01:47So this is a really worrying time for any parent.

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