Sunrise host Natalie Barr has broken down after the parents of Melbourne teens Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles returned home with their bodies.

The families of teenagers Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles have been "blown away" by the support of the public after their fundraising goal was surpassed overnight.

Eight staff members of a backpacker hostel in Laos have been detained by local authorities as they investigate the deaths of six foreign tourists from suspected methanol poisoning, according to state-affiliated media in the Southeast Asian country.

The bodies of Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles, two best friends who died of methanol poisoning in South-East Asia, have returned home to Australia.

Laos police have arrested the owner, manager and six staff members of the Laotian hostel at the centre of a spate of fatal ­methanol poisonings as the ­grieving parents of Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles brought their daughters’ bodies back to ­Australia.

A second Australian teen who fell critically ill from a mass methanol poisoning in Laos last week has died in a Thailand hospital. The family of Holly Bowles delivered the devastating update on Friday, just a day after her best friend Bianca Jones passed away surrounded by loved ones.

Holly Bowles, 19, has died in a Thailand hospital from methanol poisoning linked to Laos, which also claimed the life of her friend, Bianca Jones.

Officials arrested eight hostel workers in Laos on Monday for allegedly poisoning travelers with methanol, according to reports from the Australian Broadcasting Corp. Tourists reported illnesses after consuming alcohol in the town of Vang Vieng,

Police in Laos have detained the manager and seven workers of a backpacker hostel in Vang Vieng following the deaths of six tourists from suspected methanol poisoning, state media reported on Tuesday.