Australian teenager Bianca Jones has died in a Thailand hospital where she was being treated for suspected methanol poisoning after a holiday in Laos.

The 19-year-old Melburnian was holidaying with friend Holly Bowles when they became ill, along with a dozen other tourists in the popular town of Vang Vieng, last week.

Jones’ family confirmed her death in a statement to the Herald Sun on Thursday afternoon.

“It is with the heaviest of hearts that we share the news that our beloved daughter and sister, Bianca Jones, has passed away,” they said.

“She was surrounded by love, and we are comforted by the knowledge that her incredible spirit touched so many lives during her time with us.”

The family expressed gratitude for the support they received from across Australia in the wake of the tragedy.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said her death was a “terrible and cruel loss”.

“This is every parent’s worst fear and a nightmare no-one should have to endure,” he told Parliament.

“Bianca’s trip should have been a joyous time and a source of fond memories in years to come – memories she should have carried with her to a long bright future that lay ahead of her.

“It is beyond sad that this was not to be.

“We also take this moment to say that we are thinking of Bianca’s friend Holly Bowles who is fighting for her life there in Laos.

“Australians hold her and her family in our hearts as we pray for her and we hope for a good recovery. ”

Member for Goldstein Zoe Daniel and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton also spoke and offered thoughts.

Jones and Bowles, both from Beaumaris in Melbourne’s south-east, had been on life support at separate hospitals in Bangkok.

They had planned to stay at the Nana Backpacker Hostel in Vang Vieng and drank at the venue before reportedly going to a Jaidee bar on November 11.

They did not leave their dorm room for 24 hours and reported feeling unwell on November 13.

Hostel manager Duong Duc Toan said the Australian women had joined more than 100 other guests for free shots of Lao vodka offered by the hostel as a gesture of hospitality, AP reported.

Two women from Denmark and an American have also reportedly died after drinking the substance and at least a dozen people have been hospitalised.

British lawyer Simone White, 28, from Kent, was among those taken to hospital, The Times reported.

Her friend Bethany Clarke urged tourists in the region to avoid local spirits after their group fell ill.

“Our group stayed in Vang Vieng and we drank free shots offered by one of the bars. Just avoid them as so not worth it,” she wrote in a Laos backpacking Facebook group.

“Six of us who drank from the same place are in hospital currently with methanol poisoning.”

The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has been contacted for comment.

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said consular assistance was being provided to the families of the two Australians girls in Thailand.

Jones and Bowles both played for Beaumaris Football Club.

The US State Department confirmed the death of one of its citizens on Thursday in the Laos tourism town of Vang Vieng, 130 kilometres north of the capital Vientiane.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports he was a 56-year-old, but no other details are known.

He was the third person thought to have died in a mass methanol poisoning in the town. Two Danish women aged 19 or 20 were the first confirmed deaths.

Jones and Bowes were staying at the Nana Backpacker Hostel in Vang Vieng and drank there on November 11, before a night out at the nearby Jaidee bar.

They then did not leave their dorm room for 24 hours and reported feeling unwell on November 13.

At least a dozen people have reportedly also been hospitalised after also drinking the substance.

Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles were staying at the Nana Backpacker Hostel in Vang Vieng. Photos: Facebook

Bowles’ father Shaun spoke to media in Bangkok on Wednesday, saying his 19-year-old daughter was in intensive care in a critical condition and on life support.

“We’d just like to thank everyone from back home for all the support and love that we’re receiving. But we’d also like for people to appreciate right now we just need privacy so we can spend as much time as we can with Holly,” he said.

The SMH reports the investigation into the mass poisoning has ramped up as publicity has spread this week.

Bottles of alcohol were reportedly seized from the hostel this week to be taken for testing.

It follows hostel manager Duong Duc Toan admitting he served free shots of locally made vodka to the two Australians – although he insisted that wasn’t what made them sick.

He said the two women joined more than 100 other guests for free shots of Lao vodka. No other guests had reported issues, Toan said, adding that Jones and Bowles then went for a night out, returning early the next morning.

The two women were reportedly among 100 people given free local vodka at the Nana Backpacker Hostel. Photo: Facebook

Toan said hostel staff were told by other guests that the women were unwell. They reportedly spent all of November 12 in their room, before going to reception saying they were “feeling hard to breathe”.

“They come to tell my staff, ‘please, can you help me, bring me to the hospital’,” the worker said, according to the Herald Sun.

A hostel worker took the girls to the hospital one by one on a motorbike.

Jones and Boyle’s football coach Nick Heath said the incident had been confronting for the women’s former teammates.

“This is right in their face. It’s not a Netflix documentary. It’s not some B-grade TV show. It’s real life. And it smacks you right in the face at a time when a lot of these kids dealing with VCE exams and uni exams and life in general,” he told The Project on Wednesday.

“It’s a very stressful time and a lot of them are planning their own holidays and trips, and wanting to have fun after a busy year. Then all of a sudden the realities of this hits you right between the eyes.”

University of Melbourne deputy director and head of emergency medicine George Braitberg said methanol tasted and smelt like standard alcohol and was often used as a substitute in illegal alcoholic beverages.

He said it would initially cause the same symptoms of drunkedness and could take eight to 18 hours before the toxic effects were felt and possibly lead to multi-organ failure.

The chemical liquid contained a toxic metabolite known as formic acid, Braitberg said, which was concentrated in the eyes “causing blurred vision and possible blindness”.

It then entered the brain leading to confusion, seizures and coma, before the acid built up in the body causing respiratory failure, circulatory shock and kidney failure, he said.

Braitberg said hospital treatment such as intravenous fluids, dialysis and intensive care could help people recover, and early action was key to survival.

-with AAP