A second Australian teenager has died of suspected methanol poisoning, bringing to six the number of foreign tourists who have died after apparently drinking tainted alcohol in Laos.

The family of Holly Bowles, 19, said it was with “broken hearts” that they confirmed her death, more than a week after she fell ill in the tourist town of Vang Vieng.

Her friend Bianca Jones, also 19, and British lawyer Simone White, 28, from south-east London, were confirmed to have died on Thursday.

An unnamed US man and two Danish women, aged 19 and 20, are also among the victims of the suspected poisoning, believed to be connected to bootleg alcohol.