8 Kerala tourists die of asphyxiation in Nepal
TRAGEDY CM condoles death; bodies likely to be brought today
KATHMANDU: Tragedy struck a group of 15 tourists from Kerala in Nepal when eight of them, including four minors, died after they fell unconscious probably due to a gas leak from a heater in their room at a mountainous resort, police said, amid a cold wave in the Himalayan region.
The Indian nationals were airlifted to HAMS hospital in Kathmandu where they were pronounced dead on arrival, Superintendent of Police Sushil Singh Rathaur said.
Makwanpur police said the victims might have fallen unconscious due to asphyxiation.
“All eight were airlifted and brought to hospital in Kathmandu. A doctor from the Indian mission was also immediately sent to the concerned hospital to check on welfare of patients and to provide necessary assistance,” sources at the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu said.
“We have now been informed that all eight patients did not survive,” they added.
The victims were identified as Praveen Krishnan Nair, Saranya Sasi, Sreebhadra Praveen, Aarcha Praveen, Abhinav Saranya Nair, Ranjith Kumar Adatholath Punathil, Indu Lakshmi Peethambaran Ragalatha and Vyshnav Ranjith. The deceased - two couples and four children - were part of a group of 15 people t r avel l i ng f r om Kerala to Pokhara, a popular mountainous tourist destination.
They were on their way back home and stayed at Everest Panorama Resort in Daman in Makawanpur district on Monday night.
According to the manager at the resort, the guests stayed in a room and turned on a gas heater to keep themselves warm.
Although they had booked a total of four rooms, eight of them stayed in a room and remaining others in another room, the manager said, adding that all the windows and the door of the room were bolted from inside.
The I ndian mission has assured all necessary assistance to the family members of the victims.
In Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has sought the intervention of External Affairs minister
S Jaishanakar to render all assistance to the families of the eight Keralite tourists who died at a resort in Nepal.
In a letter to the minister, Vijayan said: “We have heard the shocking news of the death of eight persons from Kerala who were on a visit to Nepal. I request your ministry to kindly intervene for rendering all possible assistance to the families and friends of the victims”.
On the basis of the directions given by the Chief Minister, NORKA (Non Resident Keralite Affairs) officials have got in touch with the Indian Embassy in Nepal.
The bodies are expected to be brought to the state on Wednesday after post-mortem, the statement added.