Dad and mom problem journey warning after daughters die on journey to Laos

The parents of two Australian teenagers who died in Laos final 12 months have begged for Australians to take away the vacation spot from their bucket lists.

Ahead of the anniversary of their daughters’ deaths, Holly Morton-Bowles and Bianca Jones’ mother and father slammed the Laos authorities as “corrupt” in an interview with the Herald Sun.

They additionally claimed there’s no proof police have investigated the tragedy.

Best mates Holly and Bianca, each 19, had been on the journey of a lifetime within the vacationer city of Vang Vieng in November final 12 months after they by accident consumed methanol.

The pair died alongside 4 different vacationers staying on the Nana Backpackers hostel.

The colorless, odorless poison, could cause critical sickness and might be deadly if simply 25mL is consumed.

Shaun Bowles and Samantha Morton mentioned they had been dissatisfied within the investigation up to now, saying: “We recognise how corrupt and unhelpful the Laos Government (is), there isn’t any proof by any means to recommend there may be any kind of investigation happening.

“(Our) hope is that Australians remove this country from their bucket list, your life is worth nothing over there and we have seen this first-hand as well as other families that have been involved in this tragedy.”

Victorian premier Jacinta Allan acknowledged that the mother and father’ frustrations had been “very real” because of the lack of “change happening at the end of the Laotian investigation”.

Meanwhile, Mark and Michelle Jones mentioned “to date, no individual or organisation has been held accountable” and famous that it “appears these deaths of innocent young women may be forgotten, brushed aside and left unresolved”.

Chatoulong Bouasisavath, the Laos ambassador to Australia, didn’t reply to questions from the Herald Sun.

‘We’ve heard nothing’

The households’ seek for solutions has been an extended one, and the silence from Laos has been deafening.

In February it was revealed that the Laos authorities had refused to satisfy with the households of those that had been killed within the mass methanol poisoning occasion.

In an interview with 60 Minutes journalist Tara Brown, Mark and Michelle Jones alongside Sam and Shaun Bowles mentioned the Laos authorities has refused to satisfy with them for the reason that youngsters’ deaths.

“We’ve heard nothing,” Mr Jones mentioned within the interview, which aired on Sunday night time.

“I cannot have my daughter’s passing not mean anything.”

Following the tragic deaths of Ms Jones and Ms Bowles, an outpouring of sympathy got here in from round Australia and the world together with from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, whereas tons of attended a vigil held within the girls’s honour in Melbourne in November final 12 months.

Ms Jones was farewelled at a funeral service on December 6 at her old style, Mentone Girls’ Gramma.

Days later, family and friends farewelled Ms Bowles at Beaumaris Secondary College, in Melbourne’s southeast.

Following the deaths of Ms Jones and Ms Bowles, the households of the youngsters created a crowd-funding web page to help with protecting out-of-pocket bills incurred by the tragedy. The funds would even be put in direction of assist consciousness, training and prevention initiatives round methanol poisoning.

60 Minutes’ Brown mentioned makes an attempt to speak to authorities in Laos have been unsuccessful: “Last November, in a letter to our Foreign Minister Penny Wong, the Lao Government did categorical its ‘profound sadness’ over the deaths. And it mentioned it ‘was investigating the cause of the incident to bring the perpetrators to justice’.

“But up to now regardless of these phrases there’s been little or no motion. When we tried to go to Laos to seek out out why we had been denied entry to the nation as a result of they claimed the case continues to be being labored on.

“More significantly, and cruelly, no Lao officials will meet with the devastated families, not even in private.”