Deaths of at Least 5 Tourists in Laos Raise Alarm About Tainted Drinks

At least five people traveling in Laos, including an American, have died in recent days as officials in Australia and New Zealand said there has likely been an outbreak of methanol poisoning in that country caused by tainted alcoholic drinks.

Penny Wong, Australia’s foreign minister, said on Thursday that Bianca Jones, an Australian, had died in Thailand, where she had been brought after becoming sick in Laos.

Ms. Jones, 19, had been hospitalized last week after consuming an alcoholic drink in Laos, said Col. Phattanawong Chanphon, the superintendent of the police station in Muang Udon Thani, the town in Thailand where she died. He said the cause was swelling in the brain caused by methanol.

It was unclear whether four other deaths of…