Six people are so far dead, with the cause suspected as methanol-tainted drinks in the town of Vang Vieng, Laos.

An Australian teenager has become the sixth foreign tourist to die in a suspected mass methanol poisoning in Laos, as a growing list of countries warned of the potentially fatal consequences of drinking tainted alcohol in the Southeast Asian country.

Simone White was enjoying a holiday with friends in Laos last week when she accepted a free shot from a bar. The 28-year-old British lawyer has now been named as the fifth person to die in a suspected mass methanol poisoning in the backpacking town of Vang Vieng.