Австралийн иргэд Лаос улсад хортой спирт хэрэглэсний улмаас амиа алдсан хэрэгт холбогдуулан Австралийн засгийн газар Лаосын элчин сайдыг дуудаж, албан ёсны гомдол гаргалаа.
Австралийн иргэд болох 19 настай Холли Боулз, Бианка Жонс нар 2024 оны 11 дүгээр сард Лаос улсын Ванг Вьен хотод байхдаа хортой спирт уусны улмаас амиа алдсан юм. Шинжилгээгээр тэдний уусан ундаанд үйлдвэрийн уусгагч, пестицид болон түлшний зориулалттай хортой бодис болох метанол агуулагдаж байсныг тогтоожээ. Уг хэрэгт АНУ, Их Британи болон Дани улсын иргэд мөн өртөж амиа алдсан байна.
Австралийн Гадаад хэргийн сайд Пенни Вонг уг хэргийг үйлдсэн этгээдүүдэд хүлээлгэх хариуцлага нь хангалтгүй байгааг онцолж, гүнээ сэтгэл дундуур байгаагаа илэрхийлжээ. Тэрээр ирэх долоо хоногт Манила хотноо болох АСЕАН-ы уулзалтын үеэр Лаосын талтай энэ асуудлаар шууд хэлэлцэхээр төлөвлөж байна.
Мэдээллийн эх сурвалжуудын мэдээлснээр, Лаосын эрх баригчид уг хэрэгт буруутгагдаж буй этгээдүүдэд нэг жил хүртэлх хугацаагаар хорих ял болон мөнгөн торгууль оногдуулахаар зэхэж байгаа аж. Хохирогчдын ар гэрийнхэн энэ шийдвэрийг хүлээн зөвшөөрөх боломжгүй бөгөөд хэргийн ноцтой байдлыг харгалзсан хариуцлага тооцохыг шаардаж байна.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
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Australia summoned Laos’s ambassador to Canberra on Friday after saying it was “deeply frustrated and bitterly disappointed” that authorities in the Southeast Asian nation were not pursuing the most serious charges over the 2024 deaths of its citizens from contaminated alcohol.
Backpackers Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones, both 19, died after drinking contaminated liquor in the Lao town of Vang Vieng. The teenagers from Melbourne reportedly had “free shots” of what they thought was locally made vodka and soon fell sick. They were taken to a hospital in neighbouring Thailand, but succumbed.
An investigation subsequently found the liquor was contaminated with methanol, a toxic alcohol used as a industrial solvent, pesticide, and alternative fuel source.
The liquor, served at the Nana Backpackers Hostel, north of the Loa capital Vientiane, also killed an American man, a British woman, and two Danish women.
Australian foreign minister Penny Wong said that her government was “deeply frustrated and bitterly disappointed”.
“We’ve consistently made clear our expectations that charges should reflect the gravity of the tragedy that claimed the lives of Holly and Bianca in November 2024,” she Ms Wong said, adding that she would raise Australia’s concerns directly with her Lao counterpart at an Asean meeting in Manila next week.
The embassy of Laos in Canberra did not immediately comment on the summoning of the ambassador.
Authorities in Loas could charge the people allegedly responsible for the incident with two offences collectively carrying up to one year in jail and a fine, the ABC quoted unnamed sources as saying on Friday.
Relatives of the two Australian victims came down heavily on Lao authorities for not adequately charging the accused people.
Jones’s father, Mark Jones, said that, according to information received by the families, the punishment that the accused were expected to face if convicted was up to a year in prison and a modest fine.
He described such a resolution as “unacceptable”.
“It’s like their lives didn’t even matter,” Jones’s mother, Michelle Jones, said. “We’re just really appalled by it all. You know, they were just going over to have a bit of fun, and just doing the rite of passage that every, you know, child or teenager does. So for that outcome, it was just devastating.”
Shaun Bowles, the father of the second victim, described the anticipated legal development in Laos as “mind-boggling”. Not least because, he pointed out, Laos was “a popular tourist destination for a lot of travellers, a lot of young Australian travellers and young people from around the world”.
He said he expected potential visitors to Laos to reconsider going “because they’ve demonstrated the way that they act, and as I say, the value that they put on tourists’ lives over there and the way they’ve tried to cover this up”.
